Director
Ashley Spear
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Adjunct Professor, Kahlert School of Computing
Ph.D. Civil Engineering, Cornell University
B.S. with Honors, Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming
CV | Google Scholar | Research Gate | Twitter
Postdoctoral Researchers
Vignesh Babu Rao
B.Eng. Mechanical Engineering, Anna University (Chennai, India)
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah
Ph.D. Students
Laura Ziegler
B.S. Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah
3D grain mapping using high-energy X-ray diffraction microscopy (Funded by: DOE NEUP)
Deep learning as a model to map sub-RVE response to bulk behavior (Funded by: Naval Nuclear Lab)
Claire Ticknor
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah
Simulation of failure in additively manufactured metal matrix composites (Funded by: NSF DMREF)
Nathan Searle
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Utah
High-fidelity simulation of polycrystalline materials (Funded by: NSF GRFP, Naval Nuclear Lab)
Olivia Draughn
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University
Ronald Santiago
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Universidade de Brasilia
M.S. Students
Undergraduate Researchers
Allie Richards
Interactive role of grain and void structures on fracture of AM metals (Funded by: NSF CAREER)
Becca Divine
Application of transfer learning to predict fatigue behavior of AM metals (Funded by: Sandia National Labs)
Mira Terry
Characterizing fatigue failure in porous materials using a modified Void Descriptor Function (Funded by: UofU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program)
MMM Lab Alumni
Name, Position in MMM Lab (subsequent employment). First-author publication(s).
- Brian Phung, Ph.D. student (Sandia National Laboratories). FFEMS2023, CompMatSci2021, EFM2019.
- Karen DeMille, Ph.D. student (Air Force Research Laboratory). CompMatSci2023, CompMatSci2022, EFM2019
- Dillon Watring, Ph.D. student (NRC Postdoc at Naval Research Lab). ActaMat2021, AM2020, MatSciEngA2019
- Krishna Prasath Logakannan, Postdoctoral researcher (Univ. of Utah). CompPartA2025.
- Nadia Kouraytem, Postdoctoral researcher (Assistant Professor, Utah State University). JPhysMat2021, Mat&Design2020, AM2020, PRA2019
- Aowabin Rahman, Postdoctoral researcher (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory). CST2021, Carbon2021
- Jake Hirst, M.S. student (bioMérieux). BiomechModelMechanobiol2025.
- Elliott Marsden, M.S. student (bioMérieux). (in preparation)
- Carter Cocke, M.S. student (Caltech, Ph.D. student). IJP2023, IMMI2021
- Quinn Johnson, M.S. student (Los Alamos National Laboratory). MaterialsCharacterization2023, MatSciEngA2022
- Junyan "Jimmy" He, M.S. student (University of Illinois, Ph.D. student). BiomechModelMechanobiol2020
- John Erickson, M.S. student (Sandia National Laboratories). IntJFract2020
- Carl Herriott, M.S. (Sandia National Laboratories). MSMSE2019, CompMatSci2020
- Kyle Pierson, M.S. (Nvidia). JOM2018, JOM2019
- Jayden Plumb, B.S. (Daly Lab at UCSB, Ph.D. student). MaterialsCharacterization2018
Collaborators, Visitors, and Other Contributors
Prof. John Allison - PRISMS Center, University of Michigan
Prof. Brittany Coats - Developmental Head Injury Biomechanics Lab
Prof. Michael Czabaj - Utah Composites Laboratory
Dr. Jacob Hochhalter - M' Lab
Dr. Peter Kenesei - Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
Dr. Jonathan Lind - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Prof. Aida Nonn - Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg
Dr. Jun-Sang Park - Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
Prof. Valerio Pascucci - Utah Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute
Prof. Anthony Rollett - Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Hemant Sharma - Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
Prof. Robert Suter - Professor of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Joe Tucker - Exponent Failure Analysis Associates
Lisa Wiesent - Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg
The Multiscale Mechanics & Materials Laboratory is always looking for creative, motivated, and hard-working graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in conducting cutting-edge research involving computational modeling, visualization, and materials characterization. Visit the Prospective Students page to learn more.