Yujun Xie Wins MRS graduate student award

Yujun Xie, who received his Ph.D. last year, has won the prestigious gold graduate student award from the 2020 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting for his work in the lab of Prof. Judy Cha. 

MRS Graduate Student Awards are intended to honor and encourage graduate students whose academic achievements and current materials science research display a high level of excellence and distinction. MRS seeks to recognize students of exceptional ability who show promise for significant future achievement in materials research and education. Yujun was selected as one of 19 finalists and gave an invited competition talk. His presentation titled "Atomistic Understanding of Crystallization Principles in Glassy Nanostructures " was selected as one of the 7 students to receive the Gold Award among the finalists.

One focus of Xie's research is developing predictable outcomes in crystallization when working on the nanoscale.

“My work aims to develop accurate crystallization models beyond conventional theories and enable precise control of the microstructures of the structural alloys over a wide range of length scales from Ångström to micrometer using advanced analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques at unprecedented time and spatial resolution,” said Xie, who is now a postdoctoral fellow at University of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “My works greatly leverage the TEM expertise of Prof. Judy Cha and the thorough understanding of the metallic glass processing from Prof. Jan Schroers.”