Richard Michi

    Ph.D. Student
    Co-advised with Prof. David Seidman

    Phone: 443.254.4904
    Email: richardmichi2015@u.northwestern.edu
    Address: 2220 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

I was born in Philadelphia, PA and grew up in Southern Maryland. In 2015, I graduated from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA with bachelors’ degrees in Materials Science and Engineering and Music. At Lehigh, I investigated extrusion welding in magnesium alloys as a member of Professor Wojciech Misiolek’s research group. From 2011-2015, I was a summer intern in NAVAIR’s materials engineering division, located in Patuxent River, MD. My research work primarily dealt with cold spray, a supersonic solid state deposition process for metal powders. This process shows promise as a repair method for corroded aircraft components, as well as a way to deposit corrosion-resistant coatings. In my free time, I enjoy singing in choirs around the community and cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies.

At Northwestern I will be researching a class of aluminum alloys for high temperature applications. These alloys are strengthened by nano-scale precipitates containing elements such as Sc, and Zr. A large part of my research will include the use of atom probe tomography to study these precipitates and their evolution. The use of aluminum alloys can provide significant weight reduction compared to traditional high temperature materials. This is extremely important to sectors such as the automotive industry, as reduced weight means increased fuel efficiency.

Selected Honors

  1. Handwerk Prize for outstanding achievement in Materials Science and Engineering- Lehigh University, 2015

Publications