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Principal Investigator

Prof. Andrea Hodge

Professor, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Arthur B. Freeman Professorship

2004 Staff Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
2002 Post Doctoral Fellow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
2002 Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University

Andrea Hodge holds the Arthur B. Freeman Professorship in the Viterbi School of Engineering, where she has a joint appointment in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. A member of our faculty since 2007, Professor Hodge has specialized in research on nanomechanics and supervises the Hodge Materials Research Group. She has studied extensively the mechanical behavior of engineered materials at the nano- and micro- scale. In recognition of her innovative research, Professor Hodge has received a number of significant honors, including the Young Leader Award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Excellence in Publication Award, the Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a Young Investigator Program award from the Office of Naval Research, a National Science Foundation (NSF) BRIDGE Award, and an NSF CAREER award.

Research Interests: Nanocrystalline materials processing, thin and thick film coatings, multilayers synthesis, corrosion, biomaterials, nanomechanics, hierarchical materials processing, grain boundary engineering

Email: ahodge@usc.edu

Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr. Koushik Jagadish
Postdoctoral Researcher

2022 Ph.D., Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India
2017 M.Sc., Materials Science, Mangalore University, India
2015 B.Sc., Physics, Mysore Education Society, India

Research Interests: Electron Microscopy, Crystal growth, Oxide thin films, quantum materials
Email: kjagadis@usc.edu

Graduate Students

Andre Bohn
Ph.D. Student, Materials Science

2022 B.Sc., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Research Interests: Combinatorial and high-throughput synthesis and characterization, High Entropy Alloys, magnetron sputtering, nanoindentation
Emailbohndama@usc.edu


 
Anthony Botros
 
Ph.D. Student, Materials Science

2024 M.S., Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara
2023 B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara

Research Interests: Additive Manufacturing, High Entropy Alloys, Bulk Metallic Glasses
Emailaabotros@usc.edu


 
Ariel Capote Sanchez
Ph.D. Student, Materials Science

2022 M.Sc., Space Engineering and Technology, Science and Technology of Materials and Sensors, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Brazil
2020 B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia
2018 B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia

Research Interests: Nanometallic Multilayers, Extreme Environments


Emailcapotesa@usc.edu


Ashley J. Maldonado Otero
Ph.D. Student, Materials Science
NASA NSTGRO Fellow

2020 B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

Research Interests: Magnetron sputtering, thin films
Email: 
ajmaldon@usc.edu


Danielle White
Ph.D. Candidate, Materials Science

2019 B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Research Interests: Nano multilayers, interfaces
Email: dewhite@usc.edu


Ikponmwosa Iyinbor
Ph.D. Student, Materials Science

2024 M.S., Materials Engineering, University of Southern California
2021 B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria

Research Interests: Magnetron sputtering, thin films
Email: iyinbor@usc.edu


Kyle Russell
Ph.D. Candidate, Mechanical Engineering

2020 B.A., Physics, Wesleyan University

Research Interests: Nanometallic multilayers, nanomaterial deterioration
Email: kyler782@usc.edu


 
 
 
Theophil J. Oros
Ph.D. Student, Materials Science

2023 M.S., Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Management, University of Southern California
2017 B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Research Interests: Additive Manufacturing, Creep
Email: ororst@usc.edu


 
 
 
Alicia Tsung
M.S. Student, Materials Engineering

2024 B. Sc., Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California

Research Interests: Nanoindentation
Email: atsung@usc.edu

Undergraduate Students

Pumarie Madden

In Progress 2025 B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California

Research Interests: Nanoindentation
Email: pamadden@usc.edu


 

Nicole Chou

In Progress 2025 B.Sc., Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Southern California
In Progress 2025 M.S., Product Development Engineering, University of Southern California

Research Interests: Nanoindentation
Email: nkchou@usc.edu