معرفی
Matthew Beck, Ph.D., is Professor of Materials Engineering and Director of Graduate Studies for Materials Engineering at the University of Kentucky’s Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering. Since 2009 he has held continuous faculty appointments at UK, advancing from Assistant to Associate to full Professor, and has served in graduate-studies leadership roles since 2017.
Education:
- Post-Doctoral Research, Materials Physics, Vanderbilt University, 2005-2008
- Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern University, 2005
- B.S.E. Materials Science & Engineering, University of Michigan, 2000
Research interests integrate computational materials science with experimental surface physics. Major thrusts include atomistic and multi-scale modelling of structure–property relationships, thermodynamic and kinetic behaviour of surfaces, interfaces and nanoscale systems, and quantum-mechanical understanding of catalysis, bond-making/breaking and electron emission. Recent work couples stochastic mechanics of metallic foams and ablative thermal-protection materials with scandate thermionic-cathode technologies for vacuum electronics.
Beck’s 2020-2025 publications exhibit a strong pivot toward scandate cathodes: over a dozen papers map processing–microstructure–emission links using DFT, surface thermodynamics and environmental-SEM, clarifying how Sc-containing surface layers lower work function. A parallel stream develops stochastic mesoscale models that translate random cellular geometries of Duocel metallic foams into macroscopic mechanical response, with spin-offs for spacecraft MMOD shielding and ablative heat-shield design.
Scientific awards: none explicitly listed in the supplied material.
Advising & grants: While individual student names are not provided, Beck’s continuous supervision role as Director of Graduate Studies and principal investigator on federally supported cathode and foam projects indicates active mentoring of M.S. and Ph.D. candidates; formal grant identifiers are not supplied.
Labs & teams: Beck leads the computational materials subgroup within the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering and participates in multi-departmental efforts on thermal-protection materials and vacuum electronic devices at UK.
