Professor Corinne E. Packard
Dr. Packard joined the George S. Ansell Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines as an Assistant Professor in 2010 and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the National Center for Photovoltaics. She earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from MIT for her research in nanomechanics and the development of high temperature nanoindentation techniques. Her current research advances an understanding of mechanical behavior of ceramic materials used for structural applications as well as renewable and traditional energy sources. In 2014, she received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and was selected as a TMS Young Leader. To date, she has more than 20 archival publications, 3 issued patents, and has given over 30 invited and contributed talks.
Curriculum Vitae: PDF
Email: cpackard@mines.edu
Office: HH372
Phone: (303)-273-3773
Post-Doctoral Students
Dong Wu
Dr. Dong Wu started to work as a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Packard's group at Colorado School of Mines in January 2016. He uses ECR nanoindentation and PFM techniques to study the piezoelectric properties of AlN thin film. His research interests also include mechanical properties of metals e.g. high entropy alloy, spectra of rare earth ions in glasses and ceramics.
He earned PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering advised by Dr. T. G. Nieh at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) in August 2015. Before that, he studied in Shanghai Institute of Optics and fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Shanghai and received the Master's degree in 2010. In 2007, Dong graduated as a Bachelor in materials science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China.
Curriculum Vitae: PDF
Email: dwu1@mines.edu
Office: HH278
Graduate Students
Taylor Wilkinson
Taylor is working on her PhD in the Materials Science program. She will be using nanoindentation-based methods in order to better understand the pressure-induced phase transformations of certain rare-earth orthophosphates. In December 2010, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Materials Engineering from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. From there she pursued a Master of Science in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. In November 2013, she defended her thesis: High-Resolution, Mechanical Property Mapping in Oil Shales.
Email: twilkins@mines.edu
Office: HH120
Matt Musselman
Matt is an Engineering Physics undergraduate at Colorado School of Mines in the class of 2014. He previously served five years in the US Navy as a Mineman and Search and Rescue Swimmer aboard a mine-countermeasures ship. Starting research through the REMRSEC REU 2012 he worked to improve the lifetime models of lithium ion batteries used for electric/hybrid vehicles by measuring the mechanical degradation of the cathode materials. He is currently measuring the mechanical and electrical properties of nanocrystalline-Si/a-Si:H composite thin films.
Email: mmusselm@mines.edu
Office: HH120
Dustin crouse
Dustin is a Masters candidate in the Materials Science program. He is collaborating with NREL to lower the processing costs for multi-junction solar cells. His project involves controlled fracture and reuse of substrates on which III-V solar devices are grown. He has experience in laser surface treatment and laser metal deposition for automotive and aerospace applications. He also interned at NREL to improve thermal design of long-haul vehicles. Dustin earned B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from the University of Virginia in 2011.
Email: dcrouse@mines.edu
Office: HH120
Noor Alkurd
Noor is a PhD candidate in the Materials Science program. His project involves controlled fracture and reuse of substrates on which III-V solar devices are grown. He is utilizing an electrochemical process to produce porous Germanium for semiconductor wafer reuse. Noor has a Bachelors of Chemistry from the University of New Orleans. He has past experience in nanomaterial synthesis, thin film device fabrication, and testing.
Email: nalkurd@mines.edu
Office: HH120
Undergraduate Students
Zach McMullen
Zach is currently a Metallurgical and Materials Engineering undergraduate at the Colorado School of Mines as part of the class of 2016. Joining the group in the summer of 2015 he works on producing a procedure for the processing of rare-earth orthophosphate materials that will later be used to study pressure induced phase transformation.
Email: zmcmulle@mines.edu
Office: HH120
Ryan Mathiesen
Ryan is currently an undergraduate in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and will graduate in May of 2017. He joined the group in Fall 2016 and is working with Noor on classifying porous germanium for controlled fracture and reuse. He has past intern experience at Seagate in electrical supplier engineering and at IX Power.
Ryan Plessinger
Ryan is an undergraduate in the Materials and Metallurgical Engineering department graduating in May of 2017. He joined the Packard Research Group in the Fall of 2015 and is working on data analysis and testing of the DAC for the pressure induced phase transformations of Rare Earth Orthophosphates.