Tim and Steve caught up with Dr. Avi Bregman at the TMS meeting. Avi is at the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University. He is the section supervisor for Materials Discovery there. He talked about his journey to Materials Science and his career path after getting his PhD. He talked about the work he is currently doing. Avi also told us about his company that helps smaller universities get research funding, especially those that do not have the administrative staff to handle the details of actually getting the funds to the University.

You can learn more about Avi's company, E4 Power, here:
http://e4power.org/

You can contact Avi here:
Avi.bregman@e4power.org or avi.g.brgeman@gmail.com

Short Bio:

Dr. Avi Bregman currently serves as a senior staff scientist and section supervisor for Materials Discovery at the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University (APL/JHU). In this role his recent work and interests span a variety of disciplines including composites (ceramic and polymer), nanoparticle synthesis and characterization, EMI shielding, green H2 generation, high temperature systems, FEM modeling in COMSOL, and additive manufacturing. Prior to APL/JHU, Dr. Bregman spent time at Sandia National Labs studying the resiliency of novel composite systems in extreme radiation environments. Dr. Bregman earned his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Haverford College and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from The University of Michigan. Additionally, Dr. Bregman serves as the Director of Pre-Award Services at E4 Power inc.

The YouTube video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/AFzNJAjCr8o

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the TMS Foundation and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talk about how to use stories of successful sustainability projects in the curriculum of second to fourth year engineering courses. They explain how they will use several of the future podcasts to collect these stories. They also talk about how these stories may end up framing an open source "textbook" for introductory materials science and engineering and complement higher level classes up to the graduate level.

Joel McDonald sent us some background links that explain more about how Dow Chemical Co developed the methods to recycle polyurethanes. These could be used in a polymers course, a chemical engineering course, or a sustainability course. Joel also suggested having students learn about the patent process by having them look up the related patents and talk about how this will protect Dow's IP. This is an often under valued part of the sustainability process.

Links:
https://corporate.dow.com/en-us/news/press-releases/dow-jlr-and-adient-develop-industry-first-breakthrough-circularity-automotive-seating.html

https://www.dow.com/en-us/product-technology/pt-polyurethanes/sustainability/polyurethanes/depolymerization.html

https://corporate.dow.com/en-us/news/press-releases/dow-and-gruppo-fiori-develop-breakthrough-recycling-process.html

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dow-polyurethanes_dow-x-gruppo-fiori-video-1-activity-7373731403550863360-u-Ob

The YouTube video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/hFbXyDyGzag

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the TMS Foundation and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talk with Dr. Joel McDonald, the Technical Director for Mobility products at Dow Chemical company. Joel was Steve's PhD student and an Applied Physics graduate at U. Michigan. He talks about how he first worked at Sandia National Labs before transitioning to Dow Corning, and later Dow. He explains how he was able to perform well in a chemical company even though his background was in optics. He has leveraged his Applied Physics and Materials skills learned in grad school to rise to a very high level at Dow and bring the right products to customers and help Dow make money. He talks at length about some of the very successful recycling efforts at Dow, specifically about how Dow has found a way to recover critical chemical components from polyurethane products in automobiles. Using their separation and chemical techniques they are able to create products from recycled vehicles that make mattresses or even seats for brand new luxury cars.

The YouTube video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/sHoE_wJ54-k

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the TMS Foundation and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).