Principal Investigator: Dr. Keith J Bowman, Constellation Professor of Engineering
Dr. Bowman has nearly 200 publications, including one hundred journal publications and the textbook “An Introduction to Mechanical Behavior of Materials” (Wiley, 2004). He has been PI for research awards and sponsored contracts exceeding $9 million and a co-PI for awards and contracts totaling more than $10 million. Dr. Bowman has given plenary or invited research presentations in fifteen countries and had longstanding collaborations with colleagues in Germany and Australia. He became a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 2000 and has held several society-wide positions.
At Purdue University, awards include receiving the MSE Best Teaching Award in 1992 and 1995 and Purdue’s highest teaching award, the Charles Murphy Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1995 (1 of 36 recipients from Purdue Engineering 1966-2020). In 2003, Dr. Bowman’s name was added to the Purdue Book of Great Teachers (1 of 75 from Engineering in Purdue history). In 2007, he received the Purdue College of Engineering Mentoring Award, recognizing his mentoring of graduate students and junior faculty. In Spring 2018, Dr. Bowman gave the third University of Michigan MSE Distinguished Alumni Lecture. He is likely the first out gay man to lead a public research university’s engineering college as dean.
Graduate Students:
Master’s Students:
Ms. Rokia Elgharably, BS Mechanical Engineering, UMBC, 2025
Research: Production and Properties of Brittle Materials via Patterned Additive Manufacturing
Mr. Gizaw Melese, BS Mechanical Engineering, UMBC, 2025
Research: Fracture and Fractography of Anisotropic Materials via Indentation
Undergraduate Students:
Mr. Daniel Combs, Mechanical Engineering, BS expected 2026.
Research: Processing and Characterization of Materials via Additive Manufacturing