Lab Members

Graduate Students

Cassondra Brayfield

Cassie is a PhD candidate of Material Science and Engineering. Her career includes a bachelors from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Master’s work at Arizona State University, and industry roles in startups: smart lighting and BESS Tech (Battery Energy Storage Systems Technology) and also Corning Inc. and Intel.

She is currently working on a variety of energy science projects including synthesizing catalysts for the production of alternative fuels and the deposition of the absorber layer for photovoltaics/solar cells. When not researching or teaching, she is also interested in ballet, wine, swimming, reading, throwing parties, and all things outdoors. She hopes to rejoin industry after graduating as a scientist at a battery company to make greener/lithium free batteries.

Undergraduate Students

Derong Lei

Derong is an active member of his university’s formula one team. He enjoys working with his teammates on designing and building the car, as well as competing in races against other universities. In addition to his passion for automotive control systems, Derong is also doing research with Prof. Risbud in superconductors used in underground transportation and train rail. He hopes to contribute to this effort through his work. Outside of his academic and research commitments, Derong likes to stay active through regular gym workouts and playing billiards. He also enjoys driving manual cars, and takes every opportunity he can to hit the road and explore new destinations. With his broad range of interests and experience, he is well-positioned to make a positive impact in these fields and beyond.

Vyoma Bhanap

Vyoma is a first-year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major. In addition, she is interested in the application of material science to biotechnology. She has previously interned at the Dr. Rath Research Institute and assisted on numerous projects, including exploring the efficacy of micronutrients against SARS-CoV-2 following the pandemic. Outside of the lab, Vyoma is a volunteer at a local student clinic, avid dancer, and literary artist. She hopes to utilize these experiences in the future to make healthcare more accessible and effective for all.

Post Doctoral Students

Jinfeng Zhao

Dr. Zhao has 10 years of research experience in materials synthesis, characterization and experiment design. In materials processing, she has worked with field-assisted combustion synthesis, multi-layer combustion systems, solution-gel, hot pressing, spark plasma sintering, pressure-less sintering.
She further has experience processing nano-ceramic, composite, and nano-powder materials. As a postdoctoral student, she has fabricated a high current density and long life scandate dispenser cathode to develop a 220 GHz sheet beam gun for a high power traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifier, which can afford a power-bandwidth product of 1000 W-GHz, funded by the HiFIVE (High Frequency Integrated Vacuum Electronics) program of DARPA.

Her career includes a bachelor’s degree from the Dalian University of Technology, multiple masters from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics and UC Riverside, and a Ph.D. in Material Science from UC Davis.

Past Lab Members

Julie Soderlind

Dr. Soderlind is a materials scientist with expertise in metallurgy and microstructure evolution with an emphasis on materials processing-microstructure-property relationships. She has extensive experience in various characterization techniques including metallography, optical microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), and both mechanical and corrosion characterization techniques.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Soderlind earned her Ph.D at University of California, Davis where she investigated spark plasma sintering and laser powder bed fusion as alternative processing methods for Mg alloy WE43. As part of this work, she gained expertise in phase identification by electron diffraction and chemical analysis using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) as well as microhardness, tensile and compression testing, fracture surface analysis, corrosion surface characterization and immersion experiments. Dr. Soderlind was awarded the UC-National Lab In-Residence Graduate Fellowship, allowing her to spend the last three years of her Ph.D at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Dr. Soderlind also spent a year of her Ph.D as an academic guest at ETH Zürich. Prior to her Ph.D, she did her undergraduate work at Washington State University where she investigated laser surface treatments of Ti alloys for improved wear resistance.