At the February Materials Science and Engineering graduate student meeting, faculty members Matthew Rosenberger, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Patrick Brewick, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, shared their career journey from graduate school to their new roles as assistant professors at Notre Dame. Both joined the Notre Dame faculty for the fall 2021 semester.

Prof. Rosenberger earned his bachelor's, master's, and PhD from the University Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Prof. Brewick, a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame, earned his master's and PhD from Columbia University, then had a two-year postdoc assignment at the University of Southern California. Both Rosenberger and Brewick came to Notre Dame after positions at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Rosenberger and Brewick provided valuable insight to the PhD students on many topics: the evolution of their research, career options at a national lab, work-family balance, compensation, and the considerations that brought them to Notre Dame. This was an interactive session, with students asking several questions of both professors.

The next meeting for the Materials Science and Engineering PhD program will be held in late March. Graduate students in the program (or those interested in learning more) are invited to attend. More details will be shared soon on the NDnano website.