Faculty

The Materials Science and Engineering faculty shown below include professors, associate professors, and assistant professors with primary and joint appointments. To view additional faculty (courtesy, emeritus and visiting), select the "Find Faculty by Appointment" tab to filter results.
  • Sean R. Agnew

    William G. Reynolds Professor of Materials Science Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
    Sean R. Agnew

    Our research is focused primarily on metals analysis, including magnesium alloy formability, intermetallic behaviors, and aluminum alloy fatigue.

  • Prasanna Balachandran

    Prasanna Balachandran Assistant Professor
    Prasanna Balachandran

    My interests are in materials informatics, density functional theory, machine learning, bayesian inference, and optimal design methods applied to accelerate the search and discovery of novel 2D materials, metallic alloys, ferroic and electronic materials.

  • James T. Burns

    Heinz and Doris Wilsdorf Distinguished Research Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
    James Burns headshot photo

    James T Burns is Heinz and Doris Wilsdorf Distinguished Research Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Virginia. He received his B.S. from the US Air Force Academy in 2002, M.S. from UVA in 2006, and Ph.D. from UVA in 2010.

  • Kory Burns

    Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, starting Fall 2024
    Kory Burns

    Kory Burns is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering starting Fall 2024. After obtaining a B.S. in Chemistry from Valdosta State University in 2017, he completed an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2020 and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2022, both from the University of F

  • Liheng Cai

    Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy)
    Liheng Cai

    My lab’s research lies at the interface of soft (bio)materials and biology. We seek to understand and control the interactions between soft (bio)materials and living systems to solve challenges in sustainability and health. We do this using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches.

  • John J. Dorning

    Professor Emeritus
    John J. Dorning Headshot
  • Dana M. Elzey

    Associate Professor Emeritus
    elzey
    After graduating with a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering, and working on the R&D staffs of IBM and General Electric, Elzey accepted an offer to conduct research in the area of high temperature fatigue failure of Ni-base superalloys at the Max-Planck Institute for Materials Research…
  • Keivan Esfarjani

    Associate Professor
    Keivan Esfarjani

    Keivan Esfarjani is theoretical and computational materials scientist.  He has pioneered a method to compute phonon lifetimes and thermal conductivity of solids from density functional calculation of force constants. He has held appointments at the Institute for Materials Research of the Tohoku University, UC Santa Cruz and MIT, amongst many other.

  • James Fitz-Gerald

    Professor & Director of Undergraduate Programs, MSE Director, Engineering Science Program
    Headshot of James Fitz-Gerald

    James M. Fitz-Gerald received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Florida in 1998 followed by post-doctoral studies at the Naval Research Laboratory. 

  • Jerrold A. Floro

    Associate Chair for Academics Professor
    Jerrold Floro headshot photo

    Jerrold Floro's research is to investigate and exploit nanoscale self-assembly and pattern formation in inorganic materials, to enhance properties and develop material functionality. Techniques include vapor phase thin film growth, laser processing, melting and rapid solidification, powder processing, and solid-state phase transformations.