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Undercooled: A Materials Education Podcast

Undercooled: A Materials Education Podcast

By: Steve Yalisove and Tim Chambers
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A look into active learning, flipped teaching, team based/project based learning and much more. Everything related to teaching materials science and engineering will be covered. Kindly sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering Department© 2024 Undercooled: A Materials Education Podcast
Episodes
  • Ivan Baiges Creating a Sustainability Engineering degree
    Dec 7 2025

    Steve and Tim talked with Professor Ivan Baiges from University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez about the new undergraduate program he and his team developed called Sustainability Engineering. He described the need for such a program, especially in Puerto Rico, as well as how he went about assembling a team of faculty to do the hard work of creating new courses, convincing administrators, and making it happen. He suggested several books that inspired him, and he recommends them to all interested in Sustainability Engineering.

    You can find the YouTube video here:
    https://youtu.be/DB3lG_fE9L0

    Here is his reading list:
    On the subject of “Emergy or Embodied Energy

    Environment, Power, and Society for the Twenty-First Century: The Hierarchy of Energy Illustrated Edition; by Howard Odum (Author)ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780231128872

    Emergy or EMbodied/EMbedded energy is based on the concept that the value of something (ecosystem, products/materials, services, built environment, etc.) is based on the amount of resources/energy that goes into creating that something, instead of how much one is willing to pay for it. This is an excellent method to understand the actual value of any given material solution.

    On the subject of Economics in a different light:
    Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher (Author)
    Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth (Author)
    Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken , Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins (you can download the whole book in pdf format at https://www.natcap.org/ )

    On circular design and the circular economy:
    Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
    The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability--Designing for Abundance, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
    Circular Economy, Ellen MacArthur Foundation https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

    You can find more about Ivan at this link: www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-baiges-valentin-023106223; email ivan.baiges@upr.edu

    You can find more about the U. Puerto Rico Mayaguez Sustainability Engineering here: https://www.uprm.edu/isos/en/ (ISOS stands for Ingenieria de Sostenibilidad or Sustainability Engineering)

    You can find more about the U. Puerto Rico Mayaguez here: https://www.uprm.edu

    Our YouTube channel can be found here:
    http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

    This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • David Srolovitz - Materials Science and Engineering - research and teaching from a theorist's perspective
    Nov 23 2025

    Professor David Srolovitz has made many important contributions to materials science and engineering during his career. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and will be receiving the Hume-Rothery award at TMS next year. He was visiting Michigan to present the Larry Van Vlack lecture and we were honored by his presence. Dave and Steve were grad students together at U. PA many years ago. Liz Holm, the UM Materials Science and Engineering chair was Dave's second PhD student when Dave was a professor at UM. Unfortunately, Dave's schedule was tight and the only time we were able to sit down with him was during Tim's class. So Liz graciously sat if for Tim and was this week's guest host. It was great to talk to Dave and Liz about his career, teaching, research, AI, and other topics. We even found out where Dave gets his best ideas! Dave is currently the Dean of Engineering at Hong Kong University.

    You can find the YouTube version here:
    https://youtu.be/fUpfMayle3I

    Our YouTube channel can be found here:
    http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

    This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

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    51 mins
  • John Allison and ICME
    Nov 16 2025

    Steve and Tim talked with Professor John Allison about Integrated Computational Manufacturing Engineering (ICME) and his PRISMS center. John talked about how creating the Virtual Aluminum Casting program at Ford led to the ability to predict properties of the as cast aluminum engine blocks to the point where they were perfect the first time. This vastly improved the time to develop new products for Ford and helped significantly to the development of lighter weight vehicles. John also talked about his current role in helping improve the recycling of aluminum waste for large scale castings using ICME. John also talks about his new PRISMS center, Magnesium alloys, the importance of team dynamics in accomplishing his work, and how he got into materials science and engineering.

    You can learn more about the PRISMS center here:
    https://prisms-center.org/#/home

    You can find the YouTube version here:
    https://youtu.be/pF0YSMdrNBA

    Our YouTube channel can be found here:
    http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

    This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr
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