Education
Ph.D. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
M.S. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
B.S. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
- Materials Science & Engineering, March 2003
- Dissertation: “Predicting Polymorphic Phase Stability in Multilayered Thin Films”
- Advisor: Professor Hamish L. Fraser
M.S. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
- Materials Science & Engineering, August 1998
- Thesis: “Growth and Microstructural Characterization of Ni3Al and Ni/Ni3Al Thin Films”
- Advisor: Professor Hamish L. Fraser
B.S. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
- Physics, August 1996
- Senior Thesis: “Reactive Gas Sputtering of Lithium Compound Thin Films”
- Advisor: Professor David Allred
Professional Appointments
- June 2013 – present: Director Materials Science Ph.D. Program, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa-campus (http://materialsscience.ua.edu/)
- August 2012 – present: Promoted to Professor, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
- May 2009 – present: Associate Director of The University of Alabama’s Central Analytical Facility, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- August 2008 – July 2012: Tenured and promoted to Associate Professor, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
- August 2008 – present: Director of the Materials Metrology Research Consortium, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa,
- August 2003 – August 2008: Assistant Professor, University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
- Mar. 2003 – July 2003: Post-Doctoral Research Associate, The Ohio State University, Department Materials Science and Engineering
- Jan. 2000-Mar. 2003: Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials Graduate, Research Fellow, The Ohio State University
- June 1998-Jan. 2000: Process Engineer, IonBond (Multi-Arc) Greenville, S.C. (Wear coating and decorative coating service provider)
- July 1996-June 1998: Graduate Research Associate, The Ohio State University
- January 1995-June 1996: Assistant Research Scientist, Moxtek, Inc. Orem, UT (X-ray Optics Company)
Honors and Awards
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Sabbatical & Extended Research Visits
- 2010: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM; Host: Dr. Elizabeth Holm. Developed research in microstructural modeling, first principle dislocations with Dr. Chris Weinberger and nanofabrication experiments for magnetic nanostructures at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnology (CINT) with Dr. Aaron Gin
- 2008: Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB (Dayton), Ohio. Host: Dr. Lawrence Matson. Microstructural characterization of tantalum carbides
Mentoring & Advising
As of 2015, Professor Thompson has graduated 10 PhD students and 9 MS students.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Graduate students: 26 total – 10 active; 16 former
*Served or currently serving on 40+ graduate degree committees on and off the campus of UA, UA system schools, as well as students at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Former – Inaba, I. (Toshiba), Kapoor, M. (National Energy Technology Lab); Sasaki, T. (National Institute for Materials Science, NIMS); Wang, B. (DOD), Yu, X. (Northwestern University)
- Current – Vogel, F.
Graduate students: 26 total – 10 active; 16 former
- Former – Brons, J. (‘13PhD, Apple); Burton, T. (PhD); Cole, A. (‘06MS; UA); Coppa, A. (’15PhD); Fu, B. (’11PhD, Global Foundries); Henry (Torres), K. (‘10PhD, Intel); Hornbuckle, B. (‘14PhD, ARL); Hunter, B. (‘15MS, UA); Kornegay (PhD, Redstone ); Mean, D. (‘07MS, TX Instrum.) Morgan, N. (‘05MS, US Steel); Morris, R. (‘10PhD, Knoll Atomic Lab); Schulz, B. (‘13PhD, University of Richmond Law school); Srivastava, C. (‘08PhD, IIT); Wan, L. (PhD, Seagate), Zhang, L. (‘13PhD, Intel),
- Current – Barton, D. (PhD); De Leon, N. (PhD); Guo, Q. (PhD); Kaub, T. (PhD); Koenig, T. (PhD), Rife, J. (MS), Smith, C. (PhD); Togaru, M. (PhD), Vinson, K. (PhD), Zhou, X. (PhD)
*Served or currently serving on 40+ graduate degree committees on and off the campus of UA, UA system schools, as well as students at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
External Funds
Professor Thompson has garnered 60+ awards totaling than $10M of external funds. Funding agencies include the National Science Foundation, NASA, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Office of Naval Research, Army Office of Research, Sandia National Laboratories, and industrial support from Exothermics, Inc., Plasma Processes, LLC, Seagate Technologies, UES, Inc., and Fushi CopperWeld.