Cole Fincher

Bio: Cole is a materials scientist who uses electrochemistry and mechanics to better the performance and processing of energy materials. During his doctoral work in Yet-Ming Chiang’s lab at MIT, he sought to understand how faster charging solid-state batteries may be engineered. Cole’s study of short-circuiting events in ceramic electrolytes led to the discovery of “electrochemical embrittlement,” wherein electrochemical and mechanical stability are intrinsically linked. Prior to MIT, Cole conducted undergraduate and master’s research with Drs. Matt and George Pharr at Texas A&M University, where he studied fundamental mechanisms of deformation in materials, particularly at small scales. He was recognized with Materials Research Society Graduate Student Gold Award, with the NDSEG and NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, as the most outstanding master’s student in the Texas A&M College of Engineering, and as the most outstanding undergraduate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University.

Postdoctoral research project: Chemo-Mechanics by Design.  Electrochemical devices transfer enormous amounts of energy; this energy can generate large mechanical stresses in materials. In batteries, for example, such couplings govern the achievable energy density, lifetime, and safety. These phenomena span enormous length and time scales; to optimize energy materials, we must understand how physical couplings across each scale govern device behavior. Cole’s work will seek to understand and engineer chemo-mechanical interactions using a bottom up approach, ultimately controlling performance in electroceramics at the atomic, micro-, and macrostructural scales.

Research focus:  Energy Conversion & Storage - Energy Materials

Advisors:  Will Chueh - Materials Science and Engineering | Wendy Gu - Mechanical Engineering