Lab Partnering Service Discovery

CMI Researcher Thomas Lograsso began serving as CMI interim director in November 2019. He had led the CMI Focus Area 2, Developing Substitutes since 2014. Previously he led Focus Area 4, Crosscutting Research while serving as the interim director of The Ames Laboratory. Also at Ames Lab, Tom leads a BES Synthesis & Processing effort on Novel Materials Preparation and Processing Methodology, whose goal is to develop synthesis protocols for new materials including quasicrystals, ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, and those that may contain volatile reactive or toxic components especially in single crystalline form. Often his pioneering synthesis efforts result in the first single crystals of these novel materials to be grown and studied for intrinsic behavior. 

Tom is co-inventor of a rare-earth free substitute for the magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol-D (contains the critical elements Tb and Dy) used in high precision machining operations for small engine components and as a ultrasonic driver in petroleum exploration. This iron-based substitute is currently being evaluated for commercialization in energy harvesting applications.

Dr. Lograsso received his education in metallurgical engineering at Michigan Technological University, earning his Ph.D. in 1986. He did postdoctoral training working on the Rensselaer team, developing the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) that flew on the Space Shuttle in the late 1990s. The IDGE tested the fundamental solidification physics of the pattern formation and kinetics of crystal growth in isothermal undercooled melts in growth regimes where gravity driven convection overwhelmed the growth in terrestrial conditions.

Ronald Pindak’s research is in condensed matter physics with an emphasis on the use of x-ray scattering techniques to characterize bulk, surface, and interface structures as well as their kinetics and dynamical fluctuations.   Pindak worked for 24 years at Bell Laboratories where he achieved the rank of Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff.  He has 45 years of research experience with over 100 refereed publications covering work on both soft condensed matter (complex fluids, colloids, polymers) and hard condensed matter thin films such as found in electronic and opto-electronic devices.  He has 36 years of experience using synchrotron research facilities and 17 years of experience managing synchrotron facility operations.  He currently oversees a suite of state-of-the-art beamlines at NSLS-II that are optimized for coherent, micro-beam, inelastic, resonant, and small/wide angle x-ray scattering. 

Dr. Washington currently serves on multiple committees both at SRNL and in the Aiken community. These include the Conduct of R&D safety council, Diversity Board of Directors for SRNS, and the former Board of Directors Chairman and current member for Habitat for Humanity. He is an also an Adjunct Professor at USC Aiken in the chemistry department.

Dr. Viktor P. Balema is a Senior Scientist at Ames Laboratory. He joint the laboratory in 2016 to lead new materials development and commercialization at Ames’ led DOE consortium (CaloriCool) founded by US Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office. His technical expertise comprises development of biologically active compounds, hard and hybrid materials, polymers and chemical recycling. 

Before joining Ames Laboratory, Viktor served in various leading roles, including Hard Materials Head and Global R&D Manager, at Sigma-Aldrich Corporation - a major materials supplier to research and commercial markets. Once at Ames Laboratory, Dr. Balema served on the laboratory’s Research Management Team and Technical Advisory Committee of REMADE Institute and contributed to the development of the Strategic Plan for Ames Laboratory.

Scientific expertise of Dr. Balema spans over chemistry of bio-active agents, synthetic materials chemistry as well as upcycling of spent products, including rare earths and polymers. Viktor published over 70 papers, reviews and proceedings in open literature and filed ~15 US and international patents and IP disclosures. He also developed and commercialized numerous proprietary materials that have been offered through diverse business channels.

Dr. Marius Stan is the Intelligent Materials Design Lead in the Argonne National Laboratory’s Applied Materials division. Stan is a computational physicist and chemist interested in complexity, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, heterogeneity, and materials design for energy and electronics applications. He uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and multi-scale computer simulations to understand and predict properties and evolution of complex physical systems.

Stan came to Argonne and the University of Chicago in 2010, from Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Computation Institute (CI) and a senior Fellow of the Northwestern-Argonne Institute for Science and Engineering (NAISE). 

The goal of Stan’s research is to discover or design materials, structures, and device architectures for energy applications, such as nuclear energy and energy storage, and for the new generation computers. To that end, he develops theory-based (as opposite to empirical) mathematical models of thermodynamic and chemical properties of imperfect materials. The imperfection comes from defects or deviations from stoichiometry (e.g., in battery electrodes), from irradiation (e.g. in nuclear fuels), or doping (e.g. computer memory devices). Then Stan uses the models in computer simulations of coupled heat and chemical transport, micro(nano)-structure evolution, phase-stability, and phase transformations. To analyze large and complex experimental and computational data sets, Stan uses Bayesian analysis and machine learning methods based on regression and evolutionary (genetic) algorithms that can produce robust data screening and sampling. In parallel, Stan designs experiments to validate the models and simulations.