Undercooled: A Materials Education Podcast

Tim and Steve talk with Jerry Bourne from Colorado School of Mines about his bladesmithing class in the Materials and Metallurgy department at Colorado School of Mines, and the award-winning TMS Bladesmithing Competition team from Mines.  We discuss the importance of applied knowledge for motivating students to develop theoretical knowledge, and the challenges and rewards of delivering a high-enro...

Steve and Tim talk with Professor Liz Holm about teaching thermodynamics, life as a department chair, and the future of Materials Science and Engineering. The YouTube video can be found here: https://youtu.be/6ZHt4haqgJg Our YouTube channel can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled. Materials This episode is sponsored by the TMS Foundation (https://www.tms.org/TMSFoundation/TMSFoundat...

Tim and Steve talk with Dr. Loulou Batta about her experiences as a grad student and her thoughts about her future now that she is getting her PhD in the week we filmed this podcast.  We discuss topics from sustainable fiber composites to helping new graduate students acclimate to a new living environment to the value (or lack thereof?) of coursework in a PhD program. The YouTube video can be foun...

Tim and Steve talk with Professor Alan Taub, the director of the University of Michigan EV Center and former Vice President of General Motors, director of global R&D for GM for 20 years. Bio: Alan Taub joined the faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan in the Fall of 2012. In this role, Taub is conducting research in advanced materials and processing.  He fou...

Steve and Tim talk with Professor Ashwin Shahani about his role as undergraduate chair, how he approaches teaching kinetics with ChatGPT and vibe coding, as well as his research in solidification science.  Professor Shahani also talks about how he is incorporating his work with Hydro, an Al production company, to help them upcycle post-consumer scrap Al into high-quality products.  Short Bio: Shah...

Tim and Steve caught up with Dr. Avi Bregman at the TMS meeting.  Avi is at the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University. He is the section supervisor for Materials Discovery there.  He talked about his journey to Materials Science and his career path after getting his PhD.  He talked about the work he is currently doing.  Avi also told us about his company that helps smaller universities g...

Steve and Tim talk about how to use stories of successful sustainability projects in the curriculum of second to fourth year engineering courses.  They explain how they will use several of the future podcasts to collect these stories.  They also talk about how these stories may end up framing an open source "textbook" for introductory materials science and engineering and complement higher level c...

Steve and Tim talk with Dr. Joel McDonald, the Technical Director for Mobility products at Dow Chemical company.  Joel was Steve's PhD student and an Applied Physics graduate at U. Michigan.  He talks about how he first worked at Sandia National Labs before transitioning to Dow Corning, and later Dow.  He explains how he was able to perform well in a chemical company even though his background was...

Steve and Tim talk to Prof. Patrick Shamberger from the MS&E department at Texas A&M.  He tells us the story of how he helped build a new materials department and create a new curriculum for their students.  He also talks about his research in phase change materials and how they may be one of the keys to a sustainable energy future. You can learn more about Patrick here:   https://engineer...

Tim and Steve talked with Dr. Paul Krajewski, the Director of Materials and Manufacturing Research at the General Motors Global Research and Development Center, about sustainability at GM, his work, what he looks for in hiring, and much more.  He even talks to us about his STEAM interests and the books he has written for kids. BIO Dr. Paul E. Krajewski is the Director of Materials and Manufacturin...

Steve and Tim talk with Professor Rob Beck at the University of Michigan.  Rob and Steve teach a joint course combining MSE with Archaeology & Anthropology to teach materials engineering students about the humanities and to teach humanities students about engineering.  The course is called "Making Things: Three Million Years of Materials and Culture".  It is based on work that Kevin Jones (see...

Tim and Steve interview Dr. Tricia Nguyen about her career in textiles that evolved from her degrees in Materials Science & Engineering.  She currently owns and operates a historical embroidery company, Thistle Threads: https://thistle-threads.myshopify.com/pages/about-us . If you're interested in learning more, you can even take classes in historical needlework projects at her online universi...

Steve and Tim talked with Professor Ivan Baiges from University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez about the new undergraduate program he and his team developed called Sustainability Engineering.  He described the need for such a program, especially in Puerto Rico, as well as how he went about assembling a team of faculty to do the hard work of creating new courses, convincing administrators, and making it...

Professor David Srolovitz has made many important contributions to materials science and engineering during his career.  He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and will be receiving the Hume-Rothery award at TMS next year.  He was visiting Michigan to present the Larry Van Vlack lecture and we were honored by his presence.  Dave and Steve were grad students together at U. PA many ye...

Steve and Tim talked with Professor John Allison about Integrated Computational Manufacturing Engineering (ICME) and his PRISMS center.  John talked about how creating the Virtual Aluminum Casting program at Ford led to the ability to predict properties of the as cast aluminum engine blocks to the point where they were perfect the first time.  This vastly improved the time to develop new products...

Tim and Steve talked with Lily Turaski from Georgia Tech at the NAMES conference in August, 2025.  Today's episode focuses on engineering education research.  We discussed the importance of education research and how it applies to actually teaching, what are the barriers to adoption of research-based teaching strategies, and important problems in education research.  We also discussed some prelimi...

Steve and Tim caught up with Professor Alison Polasik at the 2025 NAMES meeting in Atlanta.  We talked about what it is like to teach at a small school, Campbell University, compared to her previous position at Ohio State.  We also talked about her research and what she is currently interested in.  She has recently been teaching classes that are integrated with small laboratory experiences right i...

Steve and Tim talk about reinventing our Materials curriculum based on what we have learned in the past year.  AI has had a profound effect on the job market in areas like computer science.  Is the Materials job market going to have a similar downturn?  What can we do about it? You can find the YouTube version here: https://youtu.be/dnPnxCC_vA0 This episode is sponsored by the University of Michig...

Tim and Steve talk with 4 participants in the Summer 2025 ASM Teacher's Camp in Ann Arbor.   You can learn more about the camps at https://www.asmfoundation.org/teachers/materials-camps/year-one/ Over 12000 teachers have participated in ASM camps to date - it's a leading program in bringing materials science to the K-12 space. You can find the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/-9dLj7b_OkM This...

Steve and Tim talked with Prof. Ron Kander at the NAMES meeting in Atlanta last month.  Ron talked about his experiences creating new engineering programs, first at James Madison University and later at Philadelphia University which has now become Thomas Jefferson University.  He took the Olin model one step further by developing a design first approach that included Engineering, Design, and Busin...

Steve and Tim talk with Dr. Christian Casper about how he teaches technical communication to students at the University of Michigan, in particular how we've integrated more advanced teaching in visual and written communication in materials lab classes..  You can learn more about the Program in Technical Communication at https://techcom.engin.umich.edu/ You can find the YouTube version here: https:...

Tim and Steve talk about what is coming up in Season 3 of Undercooled.  We will publish our first episode of season 3 on August 31st! You can find the YouTube version of this trailer here: https://youtu.be/QJU_wInoIYU This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu). 

Tim talks with Kaitlin Tyler this week at the ASEE meeting in Montreal. Kaitlin works for ANSYS as an Education Content Developer. We discuss career trajectories in MSE and the importance of networking and attending conferences. We also tell some stories about the North American Materials Education Symposium (NAMES) and why everyone should attend it. It's not too late to register for NAMES 2025! Y...

Steve and Tim talk with Bill Callister, the author of the best selling introduction to materials science and engineering text book.  Bill tells us how he got into materials and how he ended up writing a book that is now in its 10 edition! You can find the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/QxhWipW6vbc?si=UlzlbFllpEdQDtgO This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposi...

Steve and Tim talked with Professor Diran Apelian from UC Irvine.  Diran talks about his journey to Materials Science and Engineering through his days at Drexel, MIT, Bethlehem Steel, back to Drexel, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to Irvine.  He explains his foray into project based learning and now his new course on Professional Skills that he is teaching at Irvine.  You can find more about Dir...