One of the most rewarding parts of directing a research laboratory is watching undergraduate students tackle genuinely hard problems and deliver results that advance the field. This semester, Paul Travers and John Tran did exactly that.
I am proud to share that Paul and John recently presented their research at the UNC Charlotte undergraduate research symposium, where they received well-deserved recognition for their work evaluating new materials, as candidate coatings material for hypersonic and spacecraft applications.
What the students investigated
Paul and John took on the challenge of characterizing coatings using a rigorous multi-method approach. Their work incorporated ellipsometry to measure optical properties, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy for materials identification, Scanning Electron Microscopy to examine surface morphology, and thermal analysis to evaluate performance under elevated temperature conditions. The combination of these techniques gave them a comprehensive picture of how these materials behave under the conditions relevant to hypersonic flight and spacecraft re-entry.
Their findings confirmed several promising characteristics, including the material’s reflectance behavior relative to solar energy, competitive thermal performance compared to silicon carbide, and surface roughness profiles that are favorable for aerospace deployment. These are not trivial results. They represent months of careful sample preparation, instrument operation, data analysis, and scientific interpretation.
Why this matters
The aerospace industry is pushing into new performance regimes. Hypersonic vehicles operating above Mach 5 place coating materials under thermal and mechanical conditions that push conventional solutions to their limits. Identifying and validating candidate materials at this stage of development is exactly the kind of foundational work that enables future engineering breakthroughs. Paul and John contributed to that effort in a meaningful way.
A note of thanks
John Tran’s participation in this project was supported by the Office of Undergraduate Research at UNC Charlotte. We are grateful for that support and for the office’s commitment to giving students access to authentic research experiences. Paul Travers brought tremendous dedication and intellectual curiosity to this project from day one, and both students represented the Performance Materials Laboratory with distinction.
Watching these two stand in front of their poster and discuss their methodology and findings with faculty, peers, and visitors was a genuinely proud moment. They earned it.
The PML will continue advancing this research program, and I look forward to building on Paul and John’s contributions as we push toward potential applications in hypersonic leading edges, thermal control surfaces, and deep-space environments. More to come.