I have recently begun my research with Dr. Haitham El Kadiri at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) in the Thad Cochran Research Park at Mississippi State University. The research is complex and challenging, but I think that is the point. If it was easily understood, there would be no point in wasting my time trying to better understand it, because someone else already would have spent their time on it and written a paper that I could read about it.
I am pretty excited about what we are investigating, because this will have a significant impact on the automotive world in the future, by developing processes that can be used to make vehicles from magnesium which is stronger and lighter than the currently used aluminum and steel. There are other implications to this as well, but the automotive industry and the Department of Energy are our primary funding sources. Hopefully, I catch on pretty quickly, but I doubt that will be a problem, I already understand the HCP materials (magnesium, aluminum, zirconium, etc.) and their properties better now than I did when I took materials class a few semesters ago. I guess it is just a matter of engulfing myself in the topic to be able to grasp all that is entailed. Well, back to work, I have some more modeling to do. Until next time...
