Nathan completes his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering! Nathan will be joining Lawrence Livermore National Lab as a postdoctoral researcher.

Mark Ma’s research on spatial-selective electrostatic doping in graphene via substrate heterointerface engineering is published on Small.

Kuner passes the qualifying exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy!

Prof. Mark Asta, Madelyn, Mark Ma, Nathan, Pedro, Wenqing, and Zhao presented their research at the TMS 2025 conference.

Buyu and Enze’s research on MLIP-based simulation of oxygen grain boundary segregation in HCP Ti is published on Computational Materials Science.

Nathan has been awarded the 2024–25 Corrosion Award from the department for his outstanding research using phase-field modeling to investigate molten salt dealloying corrosion of metals. Congratulations!

Pedro Borges receives the 2023 Acta Materialia, Inc. Student Award for his work on relating the effect of composition on local lattice distortions and relative stability of competing phases in bcc Nb–Ta–Ti–Hf alloys. Congratulations!

Pedro’s work showcasing how key features in electronic structure govern intrinsic ductility and dislocation deformation behavior in high-entropy alloys with a bcc crystal structure is published in Science Advances.

Lassi Linnala from the University of Helsinki has joined the research group for a six-month visit – welcome to the team!

Buyu completes her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering!

Mark passes the qualifying exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy!

Pragalbh joins the Asta group to begin the Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. Welcome, Pragalbh!

Prof. Ridwan Sakidja wraps up his visiting faculty stint! Ridwan worked with us this summer to develop atomistic models of alloys corroding in molten salt.

Enze publishes his open-source tool for uncovering ground state interface structures with application to grain boundaries in titanium in Nat. Commun.

Flynn’s article in Science Advances shows how extra electron diffractions in high-entropy alloys can result from origins besides short-range ordering.

Nathan and Mark’s co-authored work investigating corrosion morphology of NiCr alloys exposed to molten salt is published in JES.

Mark Ma and Mark Asta’s co-authored work on thickness-dependent tuning of band structure and excitonic properties in ultrathin MAPbI3 perovskite for multiple quantum well applications is published in ACS Energy Letters.

Nathan wins the award for best poster at the Gordon Research Conference for Computational Materials Science and Engineering!

Anas’s concentration-wave model for predicting short-range ordering kinetics in high-entropy alloys is available online in Scripta Materialia.

Shivani completes her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering! Shivani will start as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

Andrea has completed her MS degree and will continue research into the thermophysical and chemical properties of bulk molten salts using machine-learned interatomic potentials.

Kuner’s work in Comput. Mater. Sci. shows how high-entropy alloy properties can be calculated using DFT on small sets of binary and ternary structures.

Madelyn, Pedro, Wenqing, Flynn, and Mark’s coauthored study showing how kink bands control fracture in high entropy alloys is published in Science.

Pedro passes the qualifying exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy!

Pedro’s work examining the role of group IV and V elements in stabilizing the BCC structure in high entropy alloys is published in Acta Materialia.

Andrea and Mark’s coauthored paper investigating the atomic structure of molten FLiBe salt is published in PRX Energy.

Wenqing’s study using hybrid MD with Monte Carlo to characterize dislocation energetics in high-entropy alloys is published in Phys. Rev. M.

Enze graduates with his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering and will start as a Lecturer at Stanford University in the new year!

Wenqing passes the qualifying exam to advance to Ph.D. candidacy!

Anas publishes an assessment of using a mean-field concentration wave model to predict ordering/clustering in concentrated alloys in Acta Materialia.

Yuan passes the preliminary exam – congratulations, Yuan!

Shivani’s ab-initio study of oxygen vacancy properties in magnetite iron oxide is published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C.

The group says farewell to David Olmsted who retires after many years as a Staff Scientist with the Asta group.

Nathan’s phase field model for grain boundary dealloying corrosion is published in npj Computational Materials.

Flynn and Anas publish their perspectives on the observations of short-range ordering in “high-entropy” alloys in MRS Bulletin.

Flynn comments on interpretation of electron diffraction patterns towards characterizing short-range ordering in alloys in Nature Materials.

Read about our recent works on metal/molten salt interfaces in this EFRC Newsletter article written by Andrea!

Madelyn and Nathan pass their qualifying exams and advance to Ph.D. candidacy!

Anas graduates with his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering and begins work as an NRC Postdoctoral Fellow at NIST.

Flynn graduates with his Ph.D. in Applied Science and Technology and begins work at Lawrence Livermore National Lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Bella graduates with a B.S. in Materials Science in Engineering and will begin graduate school at Stanford.

Danny and Shivani publish their work on benchmarking high-throughput point defect calculations in npj Computational Materials.

Shivani and Mark’s co-authored work on charged point defect thermodynamics and kinetics in hematite iron oxide Electronic Structure.

The group welcomes Zhao Fan as a new Postdoctoral Researcher, co-advised by Michael Whittaker and Piotr Pawel Zarzycki.

Nick graduates with his Ph.D. and begins work at Apple as an Applied Scientist.

Enze receives the Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Student and Inclusion Award for 2022-2023!

Sheng and Mark’s coauthored work on grain boundary “wormhole” corrosion in metals by molten salts is published in Nature Communications.

Mark steps down from Material Sciences Division Director to Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and begins a new position as Executive Associate Dean in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley.

Madelyn and Flynn’s coauthored study on the low-temperature fracture toughness of high-entropy alloys in published in Science.

Flynn and Madelyn also published a coauthored study on the chemical ordering of CrCoNi medium-entropy alloys in Acta Materialia.

Flynn’s ab-initio investigation of ferromagnetic behavior in ordered FCC NiCr alloys is published in Physical Review Materials.

David and Mark’s coauthored work on elucidating the chemical formula of Nesquehonite is published in Chemistry – A European Journal.

Buyu’s molecular dynamics study on hydrogen embrittlement on iron, using machine learned potentials, is published in Computational Materials Science.

Iwnetim leaves the group to begin as an Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Anas’s study of Lomer and Lomer-Cottrell dislocations in FCC Alloys is published in Physical Review Materials.

Enze’s work on using Jupyter Book to design an interactive Materials Informatics textbook is published in Journal of Chemical Education.

Luke, Nick, and Andrea publish their molecular dynamics study of electrical double layer structures in metal / molten salt systems in Journal of Chemical Physics.

Buyu passes the qualifying exam – congratulations, Buyu!

The group welcomes three new Ph.D. students: Pedro Borges, Yuan Chiang, and Matthew Kuner.

Flynn’s semiclassical Heisenberg model for predicting magnetic thermodynamics is published in npj Computational Materials.

Enze passes the Materials Science and Engineering qualifying exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy. Congratulations, Enze!

Flynn receives the AS&T Excellence in Research (ASTER) Award!

Justin graduates with a BS in MSE and will continue here at UC Berkeley for his graduate studies!

Enze’s work on antiphase boundary energies in Ni₃Al-based alloys was published in npj Computational Materials

Nick passes the Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. qualifying exam. Congratulations, Nick!

Anas’s work on the effect of short-range ordering on dislocation cross-slip is published in Acta Materialia.

Anas’s molecular dynamics study of short-range ordering effects on screw dislocation mobility in Ni-Al is published in Scripta Materialia.

Lu graduates with her Ph.D. in MSE – congratulations, Lu!

Shivani and Mark’s coauthored work on optoelectronic properties of tellurium halide perovskites is published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Shahriar and Mark’s coauthored work on the mechanical property effects of aluminum and oxygen solutes in titanium is published in Nature Comms.

Shivani passes her qualifying exam to advance to Ph.D. candidacy – congratulations Shivani!

The Asta Group welcomes a new member, Buyu Zhang. Welcome, Buyu!

Nick’s work on chromium solvation in molten fluoride salts in published in Journal of Molecular Liquids.

The group welcomes a two new members: Iwnetim Abate, who will be joining as a Miller and Presidential Postdoctoral fellow, and Wenqing Wang, who joins as a Ph.D. student co-advised by Professor Ritchie.

Sheng’s, Anas’s, and Mark’s work on short range ordering and dislocation mobility in refractory HEAs is published in Nature Comms.

Sheng leaves the group to begin a job at Lam Research Corporation.

The Asta group says goodbye to Shahriar, who will be joining General Motors as an AI/ML Scientist.

Anas’s and Mark’s coauthored work on chirality in telluride crystals is published in Science.

Luke graduates with a BS in MSE and joins Ahmad Omar’s group for his graduate studies here at UC Berkeley!

The Asta Group welcomes Andrea Hwang, a new Ph.D. student. Welcome to the group, Andrea!

Flynn advances to Ph.D candidacy – congratulations, Flynn!

Anas is awarded a graduate fellowship from the UC National Laboratory Fees Research Program. Congrats Anas!

Madelyn passes the MSE Preliminary Exam – congratulations Madelyn!

Lu’s work on twin nucleation from < c+a > dislocations in HCP metals is published in Acta Materialia.

Jay receives his Ph.D. and will start as a Research Scientist at A*STAR. Congratulations, Jay!

Anas’s and Mark’s coauthored work on electroplasticity is published in Nature Materials. Shahriar’s, David’s, and Mark’s coauthored paper on oxygen impurities in Titanium is published in Science Advances.

The Asta Group welcomes new Ph.D. student, Madelyn Payne – welcome Madelyn!

Jay advances to Ph.D. candidacy – congratulations Jay!

Shahriar’s and Mark’s coauthored work on the electronic structure of 3D-derived PbSe monolayers is published in Chemistry of Materials.

Anas, Maeva, and Mark published their work on dislocation climb in FCC metals in Acta Materialia.

Anas advances to Ph.D. candidacy – congratulations Anas! Shivani’s and Mark’s coauthored study on the photoluminescence behavior of lead halides is published in Chemistry of Materials.

Enze wins the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship – congratulations Enze!