Principal Investigator

Kaka Ma

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Core Faculty of School of Advanced Materials Discovery (SAMD)
1374 Campus Delivery
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

Office at Main Campus: A103A Engineering
Phone: 1(970)491-3886
Research Lab/Office at ^the Factory-Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Research: B-108
Phone:1(970)491-8510
Email: Kaka.Ma@colostate.edu

Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Davis (2010)
B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology (2007)

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Postdoctoral Scholars

Graduate Researchers

Alexandra Sutherland

M.S. Student, School of Advanced Materials Discovery
B.S. in Physics, The University of Texas at Austin (2018)

Alex received her B.S. in Physics at the University of Texas at Austin in the spring of 2018 and joined Ma’s research group in the spring of 2020. Her current research interests are in sustainably recycling scrap metals while improving their mechanical properties. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and rock climbing.

Alexander Preston

Ph.D. Student, School of Advanced Materials Discovery
B.S. in Material Science and Engineering, Iowa State University (2017)

Alex received B.S. degree in Material Science and Engineering from Iowa State University in Fall 2017. He joined Ma's research group as a Ph.D. student in Spring 2018. Specializing in both ceramics and metals, he has research interests in composite materials, reliability, and failure analysis. In his free time he enjoys hiking, climbing, and reading.

Yuchen Lin

Ph.D. Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver (2019)
B.S. in Mechatronic Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, China (2017)

Yuchen joined Dr. Ma’s research group in summer of 2019. Yuchen is interested in the processing of metals, ceramics and their composites and nanoindentation technology. In his free time, he enjoys fishing and reading.

Liam Fisher

Ph.D. Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering
B.S. in Applied Mathematics (emphasis in Mechanical Engineering), University of Colorado Boulder (2019)

Liam received his B.S. in Applied Mathematics at University of Colorado Boulder in the Spring of 2019 and joined Ma's research group in Fall 2019. Liam’s current research interests are ceramics and metal-ceramic composites as well as machine learning for production process parameters. In his free time, Liam enjoys rock climbing, singing and dancing at funk concert, and consistently getting 4th place in trivia contests

Brodderic DeBoer

M.S. Student, School of Advanced Materials Discovery
B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado State University (2018)

Brodderic received his B.S. degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Colorado State University in Spring 2018. He joined Ma's research group as a Masters student in Fall 2019. Brodderic is currently working on increasing production and the material properties of Mayenite. In his free time he enjoys Crossfit, YuGiOh and Scouting.

Undergraduate Researchers

Group Alumni

Adam Kuehster, M.S. in Material Science & Engineering (Jun 2019), Current Position: Etch Module Engineer at Intel Corp. (Portland, Oregon)

Corson Cramer, Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Sep 2017), Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Blake Fullenwider, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Jun 2018), Current Position: Researcher at Light Weight and Specialty Metals Division of the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL)

Luke Nibblelink, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Jun 2018), Current Position: Graduate Student at University of California San Diego