As a key step in re-activating the student chapter of the Materials Research Society (MRS) at Notre Dame, four graduate students in the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) PhD program have been elected officers:
- President: Faraj Al-badani, third-year student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Advisor: Nosang Myung
- Vice-President: Connor Schmidt, second-year student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Advisor: Matt Webber
- Treasurer: Hezekiah Williams, second-year student in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. Advisor: Ryan Roeder
- Secretary: Alexander Padilla, second-year student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Advisor: Adam Jaffe
Professor Svetlana Neretina and Professor Tengfei Luo, both in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, will serve as faculty advisors to the chapter.
An MRS chapter was launched at Notre Dame in 2019–2020, but was no longer active. Re-establishing the student chapter at Notre Dame was a recommendation that came out of the MSE faculty retreat held in May 2023 and subsequent MSE committee discussions, as well as benchmarking other school’s Materials Science and Engineering graduate programs.
Current MSE graduate students nominated, then voted, to elect this slate of officers. These newly elected officers will serve through August 2025.
“We’re looking forward to re-launching this new MRS Chapter at Notre Dame,” said Dr. Derek Lake, NDnano Associate Director. “The Chapter can develop student leaders, strengthen the Notre Dame materials research community, and connect students in Notre Dame’s program to the greater MRS community.”