Dr. Kaka Ma earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of California, Davis, in December 2010, and continued her postdoctoral research at UC Davis from January 2011 to November 2015. She was also a lecturer for an upper-level undergraduate course, Materials in Engineering Design, at UC Davis from April 2014 to June 2015. Dr. Ma received her B.S. in materials physics from the University of Science and Technology of China
in June 2006.
Dr. Ma’s research interests sit at the interface of advanced materials innovation and sustainability in materials engineering. Her research goal is uncovering new processing- structure-properties interrelationships in advanced nanomaterials for next-generation structural, electronic, and energy components, as well as improving the reliability and lifetimes of these materials.
After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in August 2009, Dr. Bret Windom was awarded a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship to work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo. At NIST, Dr. Windom carried out experiments to measure key physical properties of fuels as they relate to the energy conversion process. Following his appointment at NIST, Dr. Windom performed a roving postdoctoral fellowship as part of the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of Southern California and Princeton University, where he studied high pressure and turbulent flame dynamics.
In 2013, Dr. Windom began an assistant professorship in the Mechanical and Aerospace Department at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Dr. Windom’s research encompasses applied and fundamental topics ranging from the characterization of alternative fuels to the analysis of reacting flow systems using advanced diagnostics and state-of-the-art CFD tools. Dr. Windom is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Combustion Institute.
Dr. Jason Quinn completed a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in nuclear engineering and engineering physics and a Ph.D. at Colorado State University.
Dr. Quinn’s education and research are centered on energy, with current work focused on system evaluation of electric transportation, spider silk, microalgae biofuels, and fission power systems. Research efforts are dedicated to the development of engineering system models validated through experimentation and leveraged for techno-economic feasibility, life-cycle assessment, and resource demand of emerging technologies. Results from modeling work are used to focus research and development efforts to high-impact areas.
to the energy conversion process.
Dr. Christopher R. Weinberger has spent the past three years as an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department at Drexel University.
His professional experience includes time as a mechanical engineer at Lockheed Martin (2001-2005) as well as working at Sandia National Laboratories as a Harry S. Truman Fellow (2009-2012) and a senior R&D S&E staff member (2012- 2013). Dr. Weinberger holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Dr. Weinberger’s current research involves multi-scale materials modeling to predict structural and mechanical properties, ultra-high temperature materials (> 3000C), and developing a fundamental
understanding of basic pearlite.
Dr. David Bark was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus before being appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CSU beginning in January 2017. Dr. Bark completed a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004. He received an M.S. and a Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007 and 2010 respectively.
Dr. Bark’s research is focused on cardiovascular fluid dynamics and biomechanics, with an aim of understanding how cells produce and respond to forces in a flow environment in relation to cardiovascular disease. He is also interested in developing diagnostics, prostheses, and therapeutics to benefit human health by integrating experimental and computational engineering techniques with biological approaches.
Dr. Zhijie Wang received her B.S. in biomedical engineering in 2001 at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. She later received an M.S. in 2004 and a Ph.D. in 2008 in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y. Since 2008, she has been at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, initially as a postdoctoral fellow and then a research scientist.
Dr. Wang’s prior research has focused on the cardiovascular biomechanics at different levels from a single segment of artery to whole organs, including the heart and lungs. Her research interests include cardiovascular tissue biomechanics, mechanobiology, computational modeling, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine using preclinical animal models and/or patient studies. Dr. Wang has received an American Heart Association Midwest Affiliate Postdoctoral Fellowship and an NSF ADVANCE postdoctoral seminar award. She was also awarded at the AHA Scientific Sessions conference and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting.