Graduate Student Seminar
February 28, 2025
10:00 a.m. ET
McConomy Auditorium, First Floor Cohon University Center
Extreme mechanics and manufacturing of materials across scales
Innovations in material development and manufacturing processes for extreme conditions are necessary and urgent for many emerging applications. Towards this vision, my seminar will focus on the exploration of mechanical behavior and manufacturing processes of materials, with an emphasis on metals and ceramics, across many length- and time-scales, including the following topics: (i) Controlling dislocation motion in semiconductors using a high electric field or illumination; (ii) Design of high-strength and thermal stability of nanostructured high-entropy alloys; (iii) laser-based additive manufacturing and cold spray additive manufacturing of titanium alloys and high-entropy alloys.
Yu Zou
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at the University of Toronto
Dr. Yu Zou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at the University of Toronto (U of T). He is also the Canada Research Chair and co-director of the Toronto Integrated Platform for Emerging Materials under Extreme Conditions (TIME). Before he joined U of T in 2018, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow (with A. John Hart) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He received his Ph.D., Master’s, and bachelor’s degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from ETH Zurich (with Ralph Spolenak), McGill University, and Beihang University, respectively. His group uses novel experimental tools to explore mechanical behavior and additive manufacturing of materials under extreme conditions, particularly for metallic materials. Dr. Zou has garnered over C$18 million in research grants and several major early-career awards in the materials community, including the 2025 TMS Frontiers of Materials Award, the 2022 TMS Early Career Faculty Fellow Award, and 2020 JMR Early Career Scholars Prize. His papers are published in leading international journals, including Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, Advanced Materials, and Additive Manufacturing.
Upcoming Events
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February 13 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
Interfacial Fracture in Soft Polymer Networks: Revisiting Gent's Picture, presented by Gabriel Sanoja Lopez, University of Texas, Austin
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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February 20 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
High-Fidelity Atomistic Simulations of Chemistry-Microstructure Interactions in Metals, presented by Rodrigo Freitas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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February 20 2026
5:30 PM - 9:30 PM ET
Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics (100 Tech St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213)
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February 25 2026
2:00 PM ET
Faculty Insights with Mario Berges
Please join us for CMU Engineering's virtual program, “Faculty Insights: A 20 Minute Briefing.” In this series, faculty will share insights into their research, its impact, and provide perspective for the future of the field.
Virtual, link provided to registrants
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February 27 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
AI meets Peer Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, presented by Nihar Shah, Carnegie Mellon University
CUC McConomy Auditorium
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March 13 2026
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
presented by Rachel Goldman, University of Michigan
CUC McConomy Auditorium