Professor Gregory B. Thompson joined the faculty in the Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at The University of Alabama (UA) as an Assistant Professor in 2003.  He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and promoted to Professor in 2012. Between 2012 – 2023, Professor Thompson served as the Director for the Interdisciplinary PhD program in Materials Science. In 2018, he was designated as a Distinguished Research Professor for the UA system and held the James R. Cudworth Chair in Engineering from 2021-2023. In 2023, he became the founding Executive Director of the Alabama Materials Institute on the UA campus, one of four institutes for strategic research investment by the university in cross-cutting activities. He has published nearly 300 peer-reviewed articles, which have garnered over 7,600 citations, and has mentored 29 PhD students to the completion of their degrees. His research expertise lies in utilizing advanced analytical characterization methods that link structure, processing, and properties together in a variety of material systems, including stabilized nanocrystalline metals and ultrahigh-temperature ceramics. He earned a BS in Physics from Brigham Young University (1996) and a MS (1998) and PhD (2003) in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, working as a coating process engineer between his MS and PhD degrees.

Bryan Boudouris joined The University of Alabama on April 1, 2024, as the Vice President for Research & Economic Development and a Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering. He joined the Capstone after rising through the ranks at Purdue University where he started as an assistant professor before departing as the R. Norris and Eleanor Shreve Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Associate Vice President for Strategic Interdisciplinary Research. During his time as a faculty member at Purdue, he spent two years as a program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) in the Division of Materials Research (DMR). Since starting his independent career in 2011, he has been the recipient of a number of awards including the AFOSR YIP award, the DARPA YFA, the NSF CAREER Award, the AIChE Owens Corning Early Career Award, the Saville Lectureship at Princeton University, and the John H. Dillon Medal from the APS. His research interests focus on materials science with an emphasis on polymer chemistry and polymer physics. The application spaces touched by these fundamental efforts span from those associated with next-generation quantum materials through water purification and to materials for national security arenas.

Michael David Johns was named Senior Vice President of Kratos SRE in 2022; a new entity formed after leading a successful transaction of the Engineering Division of Southern Research Institute to San Diego based Kratos Defense and Securities Solutions, Inc.  Prior to that, he served as the Vice President of the Engineering Division of Southern Research Institute since 2004.  Johns has directed and managed high-profile research and commercial projects in the advanced aerospace materials sector and currently leads teams of researchers working in electromechanical systems and integration, hypersonic and ballistic missile systems, materials engineering, automotive engineering, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence and machine learning, directed energy, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, and computational sciences.

Johns received his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in mechanical engineering from The University of Alabama (UA), and he received a Master in Business Administration from UA. In 2009, he became a distinguished engineering fellow at UA. He is an active member on the engineering leadership boards of UA and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).  He also serves on the mechanical engineering advisory boards of UA and UAB, the Science and Technology Honors Program board at UAB, the STEM Path to the MBA board at UA, and serves on the president’s council at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He also serves on the NASA National Advisory Council and chairs the Technology Innovation and Engineering Committee of the NAC. He was named Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Council of Birmingham in 2016 and was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2020 where he also now serves on the Board of Directors for the Hall of Fame. 

Presentation Abstract - Understanding Advanced Materials in Extreme Environments

We will explore how advanced materials, and our ability to test, understand, and model these materials in extreme environments, is the enabling factor in the United States developing and fielding the most advanced weapons and space exploration systems in the world.  The talk will take a high-level look at the types of materials that are of interest to the US and a deeper look at the importance of how we test those materials. 

Dr. Aeriel D.M. Leonard is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Leonard’s research interest is combining advanced characterization with in-situ experiments to quantify relationships between manufacturing/processing, micro/macro structures, and mechanical behavior in microstructurally and compositionally complex alloy systems, additive manufactured materials, and magnesium alloys.

She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the University of Alabama in 2012. After completing her Bachelor’s degree, Dr. Leonard worked in the Corrosion Research Group at Alstom Inc. for a year.

In 2013, she began her Ph.D. journey at the University of Michigan in Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Leonard’s Ph.D. work investigated real-time microstructural and deformation evolution in magnesium alloys using advanced characterization techniques such high energy diffraction microscopy and electron back scatter diffraction. While at the University of Michigan, she led and worked on many teams aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in engineering, including developing and implementing a leadership camp for female engineering students in Monrovia, Liberia.

Dr. Leonard was awarded an NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the U.S, Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC where she worked for two years. During this time, she used advanced characterization techniques such as x-ray computed tomography and high-energy diffraction microscopy to understand damage and texture evolution during in-situ loading in additive manufactured materials.

Professor Leonard also runs a lifestyle blog titled AerielViews aimed at young graduate and professional students.

Presentation Abstract - Coupling in-SEM and High-Energy X-ray Microscopy for Multiscale Characterization of Microstructure Evolution in Metallic Alloys

Understanding the deformation behavior of compositionally and microstructurally complex metallic alloys requires multiscale insights into microstructure evolution under load or in high-temperature environments. This presentation highlights an integrated approach combining in-situ scanning electron microscopy (in-SEM) with high-energy X-ray techniques specifically, dark field X-ray microscopy (DFXM) to interrogate microstructural mechanisms governing plasticity and damage accumulation. In-SEM techniques offer high spatial resolution imaging and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)-based crystallographic analysis during deformation, enabling localized observations of slip activity, grain interactions, and evolving defect structures. Complementing this, DFXM provides non-destructive, 3D mapping of internal strain fields and subgrain evolution in bulk samples, capturing microstructural dynamics at greater depths and across larger volumes. By co-registering data from these complementary modalities, we provide a comprehensive, multiscale picture of how heterogeneous microstructures—including grain boundary networks, phase distributions, and deformation twins—influence mechanical response or static recrystallization behavior. The methodology sets the stage for data-driven design of next-generation structural alloys with tailored properties.

Prof. Stebner works at the intersection of manufacturing, machine learning, materials, and mechanics. He directs the Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing (GA-AIM) economic development corridor and is leading the design and implementation of the Georgia Tech AI Manufacturing Pilot Facility. Prof. Stebner joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2020. He also served as the Deputy Editor for the journal Additive Manufacturing. Previously, he was the Rowlinson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines (2013 – 2020), a postdoctoral scholar at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (2012 – 2013), a Lecturer in the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University (2009 – 2012), a Research Scientist at Telezygology Inc. establishing manufacturing and “internet of things” technologies for shape memory alloy-secured latching devices (2008-2009), a Research Fellow at the NASA Glenn Research Center developing smart materials technologies for morphing aircraft structures (2006 – 2008), and a Mechanical Engineer at the Electric Device Corporation in Canfield, OH developing manufacturing and automation technologies for the circuit breaker industry (1995 – 2000).

He has won numerous awards, including a National Science Foundation (USA) CAREER award (2014), the Colorado School of Mines Researcher of the Year Award (2017), a Long-term Invitational Fellowship for Research from the Japan Society for the Preservation of Science (JSPS, 2019), and the Associate Professor Research Award from the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech (2023).

Presentation Abstract - The AI Manufacturing Pilot Facility

The 20k ft² Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) operated by Georgia Tech is being renovated into a 75k+ ft2 AI Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AIMPF). Manufacturers cannot accept 100% of the risk and cost of maturing AI manufacturing technologies beyond proof-of-concept demonstrations without detriment to existing operations and supply chains. AIMPF will provide a world-leading environment for cooperative industry-academia-government pilot trials and innovation of new technologies, cybersecurity games, and workforce training to innovate, transition, and create AI manufacturing technologies and workforce without risk. AIMPF will operate reconfigurable, digitally integrated, automated test tracks for manufacturing with structural and energy materials spanning synthesis, semi-finished goods, finished goods, manufacturing quality systems, characterization and metrology, reducing energy footprints and CO2 emissions, resource management, recycling capabilities, data management, mm-wave wireless communications, and cyber-physical security. AIMPF extends the concept of “self-driving labs” to create a semi-autonomous user facility.

Colin Ophus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a Center Fellow in the Precourt Institute for Energy, at Stanford University. He was awarded a US Department of Energy Early Career award in 2018, and the Burton medal from the Microscopy Society of America in 2022. His research focuses on experimental methods, reconstruction algorithms, and software codes for simulation, analysis, and instrument design of scanning transmission electron microscopy. He advocates for open science and develops open-source scientific software, and the founding editor-in-chief for the interactive web-based journal Elemental Microscopy.

Presentation Abstract - Measuring material properties and structure using 4D-STEM

4D scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) enables measurement of structure and properties across a wide range of materials, from hard crystalline systems to soft matter and beam-sensitive samples. In this talk, I will highlight recent advances in experimental characterization and data analysis workflows for 4D-STEM. These include nanobeam diffraction strain mapping, crystallographic phase identification, and phase contrast imaging via dpc, parallax, and ptychography. I’ll also discuss how open-source software and emerging machine learning tools can further extend the reach of 4D-STEM to thicker and more complex samples.