The University of Notre Dame’s Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) program has awarded one-year fellowships for the 2025-2026 academic year to ten graduate students pursuing the MSE PhD. This year’s recognition brings the total number of fellowships awarded to 29 since the program’s inception in 2020.
The fellowships support collaborative materials research with the potential to generate proposals for external funding. As a key feature of the MSE program, the interdisciplinary mentors provide each student with additional resources and expertise to augment the doctoral candidate’s research and professional development.
“These fellows and research projects truly exemplify the cross-disciplinary nature of materials research at Notre Dame and its potential to have a positive impact,” said Masaru Kuno, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and interim chair of the MSE Executive Committee. “The multidisciplinary focus of these projects fosters a collaborative environment that provides students with the broad expertise needed to tackle complex materials challenges.”
Fellowship proposals are reviewed and selected by the MSE program’s Executive Committee.
To learn more about materials science and engineering at Notre Dame or the interdisciplinary doctoral program, please visit mse.nd.edu.
2025-2026 Materials Science and Engineering Fellows
Project: Ultrafast studies of materials under pressure
Student: Kareem Asham, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisors: Greg Hartland and Adam Jaffe, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Petr Stepanov, Physics and Astronomy
Project: Near-infrared II N-doped graphene quantum dot apta-sensor for spatially resolved dopamine monitoring
Student: Yao Huo, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yichun Wang, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project: Automated optimization of molecular alignment and materials properties in mixed conducting thin films
Student: Xingyu Liu, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Bryan Paulsen, S.J., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
- Yanliang Zhang, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Alex Dowling, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Project: Multi-objective active learning for discovering thermally conductive and mechanically compliant polymers
Student: Yuhan Liu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Tengfei Luo, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Meng Jiang, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Project: Biomaterial screening platform that integrates 3D-structured electrodes and
microfabrication techniques for high-throughput electrochemistry
Student: Zongqi Vito Liu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
- Pinar Zorlutuna, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Jon Camden, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project: Fundamental insights into magnetoelectric nanoparticles properties at the nano-bio interface for enhanced chemotherapeutic delivery and equitable treatment outcomes in metastatic cancer variants
Student: Aurelie Brownsberger, Bioengineering Graduate Program
Advisor: Prakash Nallathamby, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
- Ryan Roeder, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Sharon Stack, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Laszlo Forro, Physics and Astronomy
Project: Reconstructing amorphous lattices via RHEED for the discovery of topological amorphous metals in next-generation interconnects
Student: Eibar Ortiz Ortega, Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Chris Hinkle, Electrical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Yi-Ting Hsu, Physics and Astronomy
Project: Structure-property relationships of soft porous coordination polymers
Student: Yan Saltar, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yamil Colon, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
- William Phillip, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Kyle Doudrick, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Project: 3D-printed concrete for buildings and extraterrestrial applications
Student: Capra Williams, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Advisor: Ashley Thrall, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Clive Neal, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Project: Hybridized plasmon phonon polaritons in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene/ perovskite heterostructures
Student: Xuanpu Zhang, Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Petr Stepanov, Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Masaru Kuno, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Originally published by at mse.nd.edu on December 09, 2025.