People

BENJAMIN C. CHURCH

Associate Professor, Materials Department
Director, Advanced Analysis Facility
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
EMS Building, Room 910-C
3200 N. Cramer St.
414-229-2825
church[at]uwm[dot]edu

Ben Church was born and raised in Saginaw, MI and graduated from Michigan Tech in 1997 with a B.S. in Materials Science / Metallurgical Engineering. From 1997 to 1999 he was a materials engineer at Honda R&D in Raymond, OH, after which he entered graduate school at Georgia Tech. He received his M.S. (2002) and Ph.D. (2004) degrees in Materials Science and Engineering under Thomas Sanders, Jr.. After a post-doc at Georgia Tech with Ken Sandhage, he worked for Modine Manufacturing in Racine, WI as a technical advisor in the Metallurgical Lab from 2006 to 2009.

Ben joined UWM in 2009 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2015.  His research interests include high-temperature materials for petrochemical processing and power generation, novel processing of ceramics, metals, and composites, physical metallurgy, brazing, thermal analysis of materials, processing-structure-property relations, electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. He enjoys working on industrial issues with materials science and is active with mentoring both graduate and undergraduate students. Ben is married and enjoys fishing, cooking, and aviation. He is a certificated private pilot and is currently building a four-seat experimental airplane.

Ph.D. Students

  • Elmer Prenzlow
  • Dan Kaminski

Master Students

  • Nasim Taksha


Undergraduate Students

  • Luke Wilson

 

Past Group Members

PhD

Kao Zoua Yang, PhD, Dissertation: “High Temperature Oxidation Kinetics of Alumina Forming Steels for Petrochemical Processes”  Materials Science and Engineering, Graduated December 2023

Lizeth Nayibe Ortiz Reyes, PhD, Dissertation: “Performance of Centrifugally Cast Austenitic Alumina-Forming Alloys in Coking and Decoking Environments”  Materials Science and Engineering, Graduated May 2021

Marjan Nezafati, PhD, Dissertation: “In Silico Analysis of Advanced Processing for Lightweight Alloys Powders”  Materials Science and Engineering, Graduated December 2018

Shengyi Li, PhD, Dissertation: “Corrosion of Aluminum Current Collector in Cost Effective Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries” Materials Science and Engineering, Graduated December 2016

Aruna Pushpa Kumara W Wanninayake PhD (Co-Advised with Dr. Nidal Abu-Zahra) Dissertation: “Nanostructured Organic/Inorganic Semiconductor Photovoltaics: Investigation on Morphology and Optoelectronics Performance” Materials Science and Engineering, Graduated May 2016

Yangping Sheng. PhD, Dissertation: “Investigation of Electrolyte Wetting in Lithium Ion Batteries: Effects of Electrode Pore Structures and Solution”  Materials Science and Engineering, Graduated December 2015

Humberto Mendoza.  PhD. (co-advised with H. Lopez) Thesis “High Temperature Stability of 316 Autenitic Stainless Steels Coated with CeO2 Nanoparticles” Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Fall 2011

 

MS

Cody (Lang) LeSage, MS, Thesis “The Effects of Ni Nanoparticle Additives ion the Thermodynamic Events in Commercial Ni Based Braze Alloy” Graduated Summer 2024

Afrah Hayder, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Fall 2023

Davan Siegfried, MS, Thesis “Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of 625 Chromia Forming Alloys in Different Temperatures and Atmospheres” Graduated Spring 2023

Dustin Wenninger, MS, Thesis “Study of Lead Sulfate Growth Kinetics in Lead Acid SLI Batteries” Graduated Summer 2021

Eddie Rodriguez, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2020

Derek Kiesling, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2019

Ornina Shamoun, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2018

Jeremy Chang, MS, Thesis “Effects of Electrolyte Formulation on Graphite Anode for Wide Temperature Application”, Materials Engineering, Graduated Fall 2017, Co-Advised with Dr. Deyang Qu

Wen-Chieh (Jason) Lee, MS, Thesis “High Temperature Oxidation and Metal Dusting Resistance of Traditional Iron-Based and Novel Alumina-Forming Austenitic Steels” Graduated Summer 2017

Lizeth Nayibe Ortiz Reyes, MS, Thesis “Coking Resistance of Alumina Forming Cast Austenitic Stainless Steel” Materials Engineering, Graduated Spring 2017

Daniel Uphoff, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2017

Elmer A. Prenzlow, MS, Thesis ” High Temperature Oxidation of Austenitic Stainless Steel within an Environment of Pure Steam”, Materials Engineering, Graduated Fall 2016

Ryan Seidler, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Fall 2016

Lingke Mao, MS, Thesis “Study of Ceria Nanoparticles Synthesis and the Performance of Nano-ceria Coating for High Temperature Oxidation Resistance in Combustion Atmosphere” Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2016

Lorne Forsyth, MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2015

Brad Lindner. MS, Thesis “Thermodynamic and Kinetic Simulation of Transient Liquid-Phase Bonding”  Materials Engineering.  Graduated Summer 2015

Thomas Cross. MS, Thesis “Effects of Ball Milling and Sintering on Alumina and Alumina-Boron Compounds”  Materials Engineering.  Graduated Summer 2014

Luis Giraldez. MS, Thesis “Effect of Relative Humidity in High Temperature Oxidation of Ceria Nanoparticles Coating on 316I Austenitic Stainless Steel” Materials Engineering.  Graduated Summer 2013

Kyle Kalbus. MS, Thesis “Copper Intercalation into Graphite” Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Fall 2012

Saboura Rokhsari.  MS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2012

Ruben Sanchez. MS, Thesis “Wear Behavior of Reinforced Aluminum Bronze-Titanium Carbide Composites”  Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2010

 

Undergraduate

Carol Martinez

Ismael Coello

Zach Breider

Davan Siegfried

Robert Porter, BS, Materials Engineering, Graduated Fall 2017

Robert Hansen.  BS, Materials Engineering, Graduated Spring 2017

Bryce Erwin. BS, Materials Engineering, Graduated Spring 2016

William Corson.  BS, Materials Engineering. Graduated Spring 2016

Steve Acker, BS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated Fall 2015

Alysha A. Brouer.  BS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2013

Daniel Kaminski. BS, Materials Engineering and Chemistry.  Graduated Fall 2012

Evan Wind.  BS, Mechanical Engineering.  Graduated, Spring 2012

Lisa Hogan.  BS, Materials Engineering.  Graduated, Fall 2010

 

Professional Societies and activities

    • Action in Education Committee
    • ASM – Milwaukee,  Executive Board Member (2008-present), Past Chair (2010-2011), EGMF Committee Member(2011-2020); Treasurer (2019-present)
  • ASEE
    • Women in Engineering Division
    • Minorities in Engineering Division