Tresa Pollock

Tresa Pollock is the ALCOA Professor of High Tech Materials in the Materials Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), part of the College of Engineering. Her research focuses on structural materials, high-temperature processing, ultrafast laser interactions, alloy design, and 3D characterization techniques. She holds a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S. from Purdue University.

Research Interests: Her work addresses extreme environment materials performance, thermal barrier coatings, cobalt-base superalloys, hypersonic flight materials, femtosecond laser tomography, and computational materials engineering. Recent projects include developing refractory alloys and advanced characterization methods like the TriBeam system.

Awards: She is a Fellow of TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society) and received the 2023 Acta Materialia Gold Medal.

Grants & Collaborations: Supported by agencies like ONR, NSF, AFOSR, and industry partners including GE, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce. Her lab includes advanced facilities at UCSB’s Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility.

Labs & Teams: Leads a research group with senior scientists like Chris Torbet. Labs are located in Engineering II and Elings Hall, focusing on 3D tomography, laser-material interactions, and high-temperature alloy development.