Career
Two decades across industry, academia, and government — a career built by changing altitude: from the factory floor to atomistic simulation, from leading teams and laboratories to studying how science itself works.
The Arc
Fellow & Senior Research Scientist — Causal Reasoning
Foundational research in causal reasoning and causal inference, with applications to Army-relevant decision making and AI systems.
Lead, Army Artificial Intelligence Innovation Institute (A2I2)
Led the Army's collaborative research alliance for AI — 311 publications across 116 institutions in Phase I — and architected Phase II: a call yielding 200+ white papers, downselected to funded efforts advancing generative AI and command & control.
Academic Sabbatical — Science of Science
A year inside the science of science: how teams, citations, and institutions shape research impact — alongside machine learning, network science, and computational social science. Invited seminars at UNC, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, UChicago, and Carnegie Mellon.
AI/ML Education Lead
Built one of the Army's most recognized AI/ML education programs: "Machine Learning for Everyone" (3,300+ participants from 173+ Army organizations) and "AI for Soldiers," an in-residence Army HQ Strategic Broadening Seminar.
Founding Regional Director, ARL Central
Built ARL's inaugural regional presence from a single researcher to 30+ scientists embedded across Midwest universities and Argonne, growing collaborative research to $40M/year. Recognized with "Outstanding Service to the Nation" by the Under Secretary of the Army (2018); named ARL Fellow (2021).
Team Leader, Alloy Development & Design
Led foundational research across alloy design, ICME, ceramics, and additive manufacturing — including a stint as Branch Chief for Lightweight & Specialty Metals, supervising 25+ scientists. ASM Silver Medal (2016); Fellow of ASME (2017) and ASM International (2018).
Research Scientist at ARL (ORAU / DRC / Engility)
Foundational materials research in support of the Army mission — grain boundary engineering, nanocrystalline alloys, and computational materials design.
Faculty, Mechanical Engineering & CAVS
Led computational and experimental R&D for DoD and DOE sponsors at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems; sole-PI AFOSR grant; taught Advanced Mechanics of Materials; StatePride Faculty Award.
Visiting Research Scientist
Turbine blade life prediction for Ni-based superalloys: microstructure characterization, in-situ SEM deformation experiments, and digital image correlation.
PhD, Materials Science & Engineering
NSF Graduate Research Fellow under Prof. David McDowell. Twelve peer-reviewed publications — eleven cited 100+ times — plus an invited 97-page book chapter. Sigma Xi Best PhD Thesis Award (campus-wide).
Manufacturing / Process Engineer
Transitioned lost foam casting research into production for GM's inline engines — design of experiments and Shainin Red X methods delivering millions in annual savings.
BS & MS, Metallurgical Engineering
DOE-funded research on defect formation in lost foam casting under Prof. Donald Askeland; AFS Best Paper Award (2001). Graduated summa cum laude.