Graduate Students 2008-2009

Danielle received her bachelor's degree from the University of New Hampshire in Chemical Engineering in 2005. Since then she worked at Saint-Gobain High Performance Materials R&D Center in Northboro, MA while working on completing her master's degree in Material Science & Engineering for December 2009.

Cecilia Borgonovo graduated in 2009 from University of Bologna in Italy with Magister Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After pursuing a six-month project at MPI, she decided to pursue the graduate studies in Material Science. She will work on metal matrix nanocomposite for high temperature applications.
Link to her Facebook

Laura completed her undergraduate degree at WPI, recieving a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a Materials concentration in May 2008. She is now pursuing her masters degree in Material Science & Engineering.

Xiaoshu Dai arrived in August from Beijing China. She graduated from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, majored in polymer engineering and received her BS in Material Science and Engineering. She received her Master's Degree in May 2006 and now is pursuing her PhD in Materials Science at WPI. She was our Stoddard Fellow for 2006/2007.

Shelley received her BS from the University of New Hampshire Durham in 2005. During her undergraduate years at UNH she conducted polyer research for Dr. Durant in the Nanostructured Polymer Research Center. When she is not studying she enjoys hiking, waterskiing in the White Mountains during the Summer and skiing, snowboarding in the Winter.

Huanan Duan is pursuing his PhD in Materials Science at WPI, with his research interests focused on nanofabrication, nanomanufacturing, and novel properties of nano-sized materials and structures. Huanan became a member of MTE family July 2005, immediately after he received his Master Degree of Engineering at the College Metallurgical Science and Engineering of Central South University in China, where his research was studying anti-corrosion behavior of cermets in high-temperature cryolite melts. With these interests as the guiding star, he promises to be a credit to the team.

Selected publications and thesis information:

• Abstract of Master Thesis "On the electrolytic corrosion behavior of Cu-Ni-NiO-NiFe2O4 cermets in cryolite-alumina melts"
• Effect of NiO content on the corrosion behaviour of Ni-xNiO-NiFe2O4 cermets in Na3AlF6-Al2O3 melts. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China. 2004, 14 (6): 1180-1186.
• On the corrosion behaviour of Ni-NiO-NiFe2O4 cermets as inert anodes in aluminum electrolysis. TMS 2005 134th Annual Meeting, Page 529-534.

Anastasios received his B.S. in Mining Engineering and Metallurgy in 2006 and his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2007 from National Technical University of Athens. After graduating from the National Technical University of Athens, he joined the Integrative Materials Design Center (iMdc) at WPI in January 2008.

Sara Gouveia received her BS in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Biomechanics from WPI in May of 2008. She returns to WPI in the fall of 2008 to pursue a MS in Materials Science and Engineering. Her academic interests include Biomaterials and superfinishing. When not focusing on academics, Sara enjoys participating in WPI theatre.

I graduated with my B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from WPI in 2008. During that time I learned about all the material limitations in the aerospace industry and was inspired to pursue a graduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering. I also enjoy long distance competitive running and mountaineering.
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Chris received his B.S. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2005 in Physics. His undergraduate research was concentrated in Nanotechnology and nanomaterials. He began studies towards his M.S. at WPI in the fall of 2007 Materials Science. His interests outside of WPI include being outdoors, long distance running and swimming, and cooking.

Shimin Li graduated from Dalian Jiaotong University in 2000 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. She received her M.S. in Materials Engineering at Beijng Polytechnic University in 2003. She is now pursuing her PhD in Materials Engineering with a Research Assistantship with Prof. Apelian in the Metals Processing Institute.

Wendi (Andy) Liu graduated in Material Engineering from Shanghai University in 2005. He joined the Materials Science Engineering in 2007 and works with Professor Sisson on the research project "Characterization, Evaluation and Removal of Surface Contamination from Pre and Post Heat Treated Parts".

Jodi Lowell received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from WPI in May 2008. She is now working towards her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. She hopes to combine these two fields in materials research after graduation.

I did my undergraduate degree in Polymer Science Engineering from University of Pune, India. I completed my undergraduate study in June 2008. As I wanted to gain knowledge regarding other materials also, I decided to do pursue my master's degree in Materials Science from WPI. My research interest is in nanomaterials and polymers. When I am not studying I enjoy watching movies and like travelling.

Anita Minakyan recently graduated from WPI with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. While an undergraduate she was heavily involved with campus organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers, Global Awareness of Environmental Activities, Engineers without Borders, Material Advantage and Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity. She is currently involved with Engineers Without Borders, Graduate Student Government, Material Advantage as well as the Society of Women Environmental Professionals. She is also a recipient of the 2008 Crimson and Gray Award. Anita hopes to eventually work on solar panels.

Kimon Symeonidis joined the Materials Science Engineering in January 2005. He comes to us from Athens, Greece where he graduated from the National Technical University of Athens. He is a Teaching Assistant in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

Ning Sun arrived at WPI in Aug, 2007 from China. She graduated from Hefei University of Technology, majored in Materials Processing and Controlling. After receiving BS degree in China, she come to WPI pursuing her MS degree in Materials Science and Engineering.

Tracey received an MEng in Electronic Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. After several years in industry, working as an RF design engineer, she decided to pursue a PhD in Materials Engineering starting September 2005. Her research covers investigating the influence of material topography on electrical loss.

Tracey's Linkedin

After graduating from the Zhejiang University in 2004, she was able to gain valuable working experience at Centrix-EG., Ltd. for 1 year before she came to WPI. Xiaolan arrived at WPI from China in the Spring 2006. In August 2008, Xiaolan received her MS in Materials Science and Engineering and now will start an internship at Air Products in Allentown, PA while continuing her research in the PhD program.

Yingying Wei graduated from Central South University in 2006 with a B.S. degree in Powder Metallurgy. After two years graduate study in Materials Chemistry, she joined in Materials Engineering at WPI to pursue her PHD degree with Prof. Sisson.
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Chang-kai (Lance) Wu graduated from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in 2004 with a B.S. in Polymer Engineering, and arrived at WPI in August 2006 from Taipei, Taiwan. He is working on his research with Prof. Mahklouf in the Advanced Casting Research Center.

Yuan Xu arrived at WPI in Aug, 2008, She graduated from University of Jinan, china with a B.S. degree, majors in composite material engineering. Now she pursues her MS degree in Material Science and Engineering.

Mei Yang got her M.S. degree from Penn State in Materials Science and Engineering in 2006. She is now pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering with Prof. Sisson in CTHE. She is working on the nitriding and nitrocarburizing of various steels.

Mu-En was graduated in 2006 from National Taiwan University with BS in Material Science and Engineering. He is now persuing his master degree in Material Science at WPI.
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Qiming Yang received his BS from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2006. After working in Tufts University and Biogen Idec Inc. for two years, he decided to seek a higher degree at WPI. Currently he is pursuing MS degree in Materials Science and Engineering.

Hao Yu arrived at WPI in Aug, 2008 from China. He graduated from Shanghai JiaoTong University, majored in Materials Science and Engineering. He came to WPI to pursue his PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering

Dawei Zhang arrived at WPI in Aug, 2007 from China. He graduated from Tongji University in Shanghai, majored in Materials Science & Engineering. After receiving BS degree, he came to WPI to pursue his MS degree in Materials Science & Engineering.

Jiu Zhao graduated with a bachelor degree from Tongji University majoring in Materials Science and Engineering.