People

Founder

In Memory of George Cook
April 4, 1938 – September 14, 2020
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 1965
M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1961
B.E. Electrical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 1960

Faculty

Alvin Strauss, Professor

Ph.D. Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, West Virginia University, 1968
B.A. Physics, City University of New York, Hunter College, 1964

Current Graduate Students

	Austen Shelton, Ph.D. Candidate Education B.S. Engineering Physics, Murray State University, 2021 M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2024 Research Interests Friction Stir Extrusion Novel FSW Process Development Shape Memory Alloys

	Ben Firestone, Ph.D. Student Education B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 2022 B.A. Mathematics, Saint Vincent College, 2022 Research Interests Thermite-impregnated thermoplastics

	Hayden Jenkins, Ph.D. Student Education B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of South Alabama, 2022 Research Interests Dissimilar materials joining via FSW

	Blaine Swieder, Ph.D. Student Education B.A. Spanish, Tennessee Technological University, 2023 B.S. Mathematics, Tennessee Technological University, 2023 M.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, 2026

Current Undergraduate Students


John Walther	Shreeka Thangarasu Narayanan

Graduate Alumni

Kristinn Anderson, Ph.D., 1993

Paul Fleming, Ph.D., 2009

Russ Longhurst, Ph.D., 2009

Thomas S. Bloodworth, M.S., 2009

Tracie Prater, Ph.D., 2012

Jorie Ballun, M.S., 2013

Rachael Willingham, M.S., 2013

Brian Gibson, Ph.D., 2015

William Todd Evans, Ph.D., 2018

Jacob Matthews, M.S., 2019

Benjamin Snyder, M.S., 2021

Adam Jarrell, Ph.D., 2023

Lucas Wilkins, Ph.D., 2023

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Julia Maushardt, M.S., 2026


Reginald Crawford, Ph.D., 2006

Paul Sinclair, M.S., 2009

Chris Hendricks, M.S., 2009

David Lammlein, Ph.D., 2011

Adeeb Shahdan, M.S., 2012

Kathy Dharmaraj, M.S., 2013

Chase Cox, Ph.D., 2014

Jay Reynolds, M.S., 2017

Devany Sweitzer M.S.,2019,

Kelsay Neely, Ph.D., 2020

Henry Gunner, M.S.,2022

Connor Strawn, Ph.D., 2023

Brayden Terry, Ph.D. 2026

Former Undergraduate Research Students

Jose Hernandez Vanderbilt University, 2024	Zach Stutsman Vanderbilt University, 2023-2024	Eric Zhang Vanderbilt University, 2021-2023
Jeremy Trujillo Vanderbilt University, 2021-2022	Connor Seitz Lafayette College, 2015	Jason R. Aguilar University of Tennessee, 2010, 2011
Yannick Dawant Northwestern University, 2009	Estevan Bunker Colorado School of Mines, 2008