Kristen Scotti
    Ph.D. Student

    Current project(s):
    Co-advised with Prof. Peter Voorhees;
    In collaboration with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign;

    Phone: 847.467.5416
    Email: kristenscotti@northwestern.edu
    Address: 2220 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

My undergraduate research, advised by Prof. David Dunand, focused on investigating the effect of gravity on microstructures templated during solidification using the freeze-casting technique. Solidification experiments were conducted during three parabolic flight campaigns with NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. I also served as team lead for the SpaceICE CubeSat Mission, a collaborative project with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Bradley University to launch a freeze-casting experiment into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

For my PhD research, I am working with Prof. David Dunand and Prof. Peter Voorhees to conduct longer-term microgravity experiments on the freeze-casting process on the International Space Station and to build computational models that describe processing-structure-property relationships in freeze-cast materials. To that end, I developed and currently manage an open-science, freeze-casting data repository (www.freezecasting.net) aimed at facilitating broad dissemination of experimental data to freeze-casting researchers and users, promote better informed experimental design, and encourage modeling efforts that relate processing conditions to microstructure formation and material properties.

Selected Honors

  1. Regional Winner (USA & Canada) in Mathematics & Physics, Undergraduate Awards, Ireland (2016)
  2. Jack Kent Cooke Scholar (2012-2016)
  3. NASA Aerospace Scholar (2011)

Publications

  1. Lloreda-Jurado, P. J., Wilke, S. K., Scotti, K., Paúl-Escolano, A., Dunand, D. C., & Sepúlveda, R. (2020). Structure-processing relationships of freeze-cast iron foams fabricated with various solidification rates and post-casting heat treatment. Journal of Materials Research, 1-10.
  2. Scotti, K. L., & Dunand, D. C. (2018). Freeze Casting: A Review of Processing, Microstructure and Properties via the Open Data Repository, FreezeCasting. net. Progress in Materials Science.
  3. Scotti, K.L., Northard, E.E., Plunk, A., Tappan, B.C., & Dunand, D.C. (2017). Directional solidification of aqueous TiO2 suspensions under reduced gravity. Acta Materialia, 124, 608-619.
  4. Scotti, K. L., Kearney, L. G., Burns, J., Ocana, M., Duros, L., Shelhamer, A., & Dunand, D. C. (2019). The effect of solidification direction with respect to gravity on ice-templated TiO2 microstructures. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 39(10), 3180-3193.