Christopher Freeze, a recent graduate of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was awarded a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship by the Department of Defense. Each year, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) awards approximately 200 three-year fellowships to students pursuing doctoral degrees in science and engineering disciplines.
Chris has investigated failure mechanisms of RF-MEMS switches in the Irving Research Group. Utilizing a coupled atomistic-continuum method developed in the Irving group, Chris has investigated how hydrocarbon contaminants influence loading behavior of gold contacts. This collaboration with the Kingon group at Brown University has led to presentations at the 2010 and 2011 Fall Meetings of the MRS.