- Materials Science and Engineering
I am a Materials Science and Engineering Major at UC Davis. I grew up in Fairfax, a small town within Marin county (north bay area) in California. I really enjoy going on hikes and bike rides, particularly in places where a lot of nature is around. I have always wanted to work in science or engineering, I love the idea of contributing to the advancement of humankind. I chose materials science because understanding and improving the capabilities of materials is key to improving upon nearly every other area of engineering. Whenever someone wants to make a device for a given application, they are very much limited by the capabilities of the materials they use to make the device. My research in the McCormack lab has been about the manufacturing and characterization of Y2O3 of varied microstructure, which lead to a study of the plasma erosion resistance of Y2O3 based on microstructure. This ties into the interests of the McCormack lab as plasma resistance is important for space applications.