Skip to main content

Peter W. Voorhees

Frank C. Engelhart Professor of Materials Science and Engineering; Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics (by courtesy)

Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1982; B.S. in Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1977

Research Interests

Thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformations

We are involved in research that employs theory, simulation, and experiment in areas from nanotechnology and energy to four-dimensional microscopy. We are developing descriptions of semiconductor nanowire growth using both phase field simulations and theory. Our effort on solid oxide fuel cell materials is focused on the formation of nanocatalysts on the solid-vapor surfaces, the effects of stress on the defect structure and composition of the oxides, and the three-dimensional structure of the voids and phases in anodes and cathodes. We are examining the dynamics of grain growth in materials using phase field simulations and time-dependent x-ray tomography. We have performed experiments on the coarsening of solid-liquid mixtures on the International Space Station. The analysis of the samples is continuing. Finally, we are using both simulation and experiment to examine the evolution of morphologically complex two-phase mixtures.

Associations and Awards

  • Fellow, American Physical Society, Material Physics Division, 2005
  • Highly Cited Researcher, Institute for Scientific Information, 2002
  • Fellow, ASM International, 2001
  • Frank C. Engelhart Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, 2000
  • Materials Science and Engineering Teacher of the Year, 1999
  • National Science Foundation Creativity Extension, 1999
  • Outstanding Referee, Acta Materialia, 1998
  • ASM International Materials Science Division Research Award (Silver Medal), 1992
  • McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science Award for Teaching Excellence, 1992
  • Acta Metallurgica et Materialia Outstanding Paper Award, 1991
  • Materials Science and Engineering Teacher of the Year, 1989, 1990
  • National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1989 

Selected Publications 

Voorhees, P.W.; Johnson, A.E., “A phase-field model for grain growth with trijunction drag”, Acta Materialia, (2014)

Thornton, K.; Voorhees, P.W.; Gulsoy, E.B.; Park, C.-L.; Fife, J.L., “The dynamics of interfaces during coarsening in solid-liquid systems”, Acta Materialia, (2014)

Thornton, K.; Voorhees, P.W.; Park, C.-L., “Application of the level-set method to the analysis of an evolving microstructure”, Computational Materials Science, (2014)

Lu, Yunxiang; Kreller, Cortney R.; Adler, Stuart B.; Wilson, James R.; Barnett, Scott A., “Performance Variability and Degradation in Porous La1-xSrxCoO3-delta Electrodes”, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, (2014)

Voorhees, P.W.; Gulsoy, E.B.; Duval, W.M.B.; Hawersaat, R.W.; Lorik, T., “Coarsening in solid-liquid mixtures: Overview of experiments on shuttle and ISS”, Materials Science and Technology Conference and Exhibition 2013, MS and T 2013, (2014)

Voorhees, Peter W.; Gulsoy, Emine Begum; Shahani, Ashwin J.; Gibbs, John W.; Fife, Julie L., “Four-dimensional morphological evolution of an aluminum silicon alloy using propagation-based phase contrast x-ray tomographic microscopy”, Materials Transactions, (2014)

Voorhees, Peter W.; Gamalski, Andrew D.; Ducati, Caterina; Sharma, Renu; Hofmann, Stephan, “Twin plane re-entrant mechanism for catalytic nanowire growth”, Nano Letters, (2014)

Chen-Wiegart, Yu-Chen Karen; Dunand, David C.; Voorhees, Peter W.; Wang, Steve; Lee, Wah-Keat, “In situ imaging of dealloying during nanoporous gold formation by transmission X-ray microscopy”, Acta Materialia, (2013).

Voorhees, P.W.; Philippe, T., “Ostwald ripening in multicomponent alloys”, Acta Materialia, (2013).

Poulsen, S.O.; Voorhees, P.W.; Lauridsen, E.M., “Three-dimensional simulations of microstructural evolution in polycrystalline dual-phase materials with constant volume fractions”, Acta Materialia, (2013).

Voorhees, Peter W.; Shim, Wooyoung; Kang, Joohoon; Lee, Seunghyun; Roh, Jong Wook, “Thermodynamic-enabled synthesis of Bi/Bi 14 Te 6 axial heterostructure nanowires”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, (2013).

Voorhees, Peter W.; Genau, Amber L., “The morphological evolution of low volume fraction tin dendrites during coarsening”, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, (2013).

Lauhon, Lincoln J.; Schwalbach, Edwin J.; Voorhees, Peter W.; Connell, Justin G.; Yoon, Kunho, “Identification of an intrinsic source of doping inhomogeneity in vapor-liquid-solid-grown nanowires”, Nano Letters, (2013).

Bender, Frank A.; Kim, Jin-Yeon; Jacobs, Laurence J.; Qu, Jianmin, “The generation of second harmonic waves in an isotropic solid with quadratic nonlinearity under the presence of a stress-free boundary”, Wave Motion, (2013).

Chen-Wiegart, Yu-Chen Karen; Dunand, David C.; Voorhees, Peter W.; Wang, Steve; McNulty, Ian, “Structural evolution of nanoporous gold during thermal coarsening”, Acta Materialia, (2012).