Award-winning nanomaterials researcher Ricardo H.R. Castro will succeed Wojciech Z. Misiolek, the Loewy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, as MSE department chair on April 1.
Castro most recently served as the Chancellor’s Leadership Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Davis, leading the Nanoceramics Thermochemistry Laboratory. His work focuses on the fundamental understanding of nanomaterials and their behavior under processing and service in extreme environments, such as high temperatures, complex chemistries, and radiation.
Castro’s research group seeks to understand nanoscale effects in ceramic materials and composites and how to optimally process these materials to control their nanoscale behavior. By using a combination of structural characterization techniques, including microcalorimetry and high-resolution electron microscopy, the Castro group has advanced processing techniques to create samples with unique mechanical properties and tolerance to irradiation-induced defects.
Castro and his team are interested in understanding the stability of nanostructures, which has led to a solid theoretical framework for the design of nanocrystalline ceramics that are well suited for extreme (temperature, chemical, etc.) applications.