LeBeau Receives Young Investigator Program Grant from The Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Dr. James LeBeau, assistant professor in the department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been awarded a research grant from The Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

A portion of the $15.5 million grant funds will be awarded to LeBeau – one of 42 scientists from 32 research institutions who submitted a winning research proposal – through the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP). LeBeau’s individual grant award of $435,078 over three years will go toward his research project “A Transformational Approach to Quantify Chemistry at the Atomic Scale.”

LeBeau’s research group focuses on applying and developing transmission electron microscopy techniques to determine the atomic structure of material defects, thus providing insight into observed properties. His current project centers on studying alloys deployed in extreme aerospace environments and how elements within these alloys interact, providing a critical step forward in new material development.

LeBeau earned a BS in materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2006 and a PhD in materials science and engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara in 2010. He joined NCSU and the Materials Science & Engineering department in January 2011.