2025 Materials Under the Big Sky Symposium to take place Friday
The 2025 Materials Under the Big Sky Symposium will take place on Friday, April 4, 2025 at Montana Tech. The event is co-sponsored with Montana State University and will take place in the Student Success Center in the Lance Leadership Hall. The event will see presentations from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm with a poster session beginning at 2:45 pm. The event is open to all.
The speaker biographies are as follows:
Tasnia Javin Nur graduated in Materials & Metallurgical Engineering from Bangladesh and is currently a 6th year Ph.D. student. Her advisor is Dr. Roberta Amendola in the Stretch Broken Carbon Fiber (SBCF) research group. Her research focuses on understanding the frictional properties of SBCF composite during forming.
Daniel Goettlich is a graduate research student in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at Montana Tech. Daniel earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at MSU Bozeman and a M.S. In Materials Science and Engineering at Montana Tech. His research experience includes the selectivity of adsorbed species on magnetite in an aqueous solution involving water treatment of industrial wastewater. Currently, he is engaged with the recovery of iron and copper from copper and steelmaking slags.
Sheikh Parvez completed his electrical and electronic engineering undergraduate studies at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is currently a sixth-year Ph.D. student in the materials science program at Montana State University, working in the Borys Lab in the Department of Physics under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Borys. His research focuses on integrating and controlling two-dimensional (2D) quantum materials using surface acoustic waves (SAWs).
Mitchell Harvey is a materials science Ph.D. student at Montana Tech. He got his bachelor’s in chemical engineering at Mississippi State University and master’s in metallurgical and mineral processing engineering at Montana Tech, researching high-pressure slurry ablation for improving flotation of copper-molybdenum bulk concentrate and gold tailings. His current work under Dr. Courtney Young focuses on a selective oxidation process for recycling samarium cobalt permanent magnets.
Dr. Martín Mosquera is an assistant professor at Montana State University and a theoretical physical chemist specializing in developing and applying electronic structure models to understand molecular and materials systems and their interaction with electromagnetic fields. He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad del Valle, Colombia (2009) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Purdue University (2014). He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University. Mosquera has recently received a U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Program (ECRP) Award, supporting the development of advanced theoretical methods to investigate components of neutral-atom quantum computers.
Dr. Teagan Leitzke is a postdoctoral researcher in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at Montana Tech. Dr. Leitzke earned her B.S. in Physics at St. Norbert College, M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at Montana Tech, and Ph.D. in Materials Science at Montana Tech. Her technical experience includes aqueous processing, magnetic separation, environmental remediation, and water treatment. Her current and recent research efforts focus on rare earth element separations, critical material recovery from slag wastes and wastewater, and applications of magnetically susceptible adsorbents for water remediation.
Danny Blake earned his B.S. in Chemistry (with a focus in polymer chemistry) from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY. He is currently a 4th year Ph.D. candidate studying thermal energy storage of salt hydrate-based composites by developing a novel material using cellulose nanocrystals.
Max Tripeke is a first-year Ph.D. student in materials science at Montana Tech. He received civil and mechanical Engineering degrees from Montana Tech and his M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2024. He used that research to develop the methods and models for this presentation and his continuing research.
Schedule
9:30 -10:00 AM Welcome/Coffee
10:00 – 10:35 AM Martin Mosquera (MSU)
“Atomistic Machine Learning for Two-Dimensional Materials”
10:35 – 11:10 AM Teagan Leitzke (Montana Tech)
“Recovering High Value Materials from Unconventional Sources”
11:10 – 11:25 AM Coffee Break
11:25 – 11:45 AM Danny Blake (MSU)
“Development of Salt-Based Nanocellulose Composites for Thermal Energy Storage”
11:45 – 12:05 PM Max Triepke (Montana Tech)
“Mobilizing Pyrolysis via Selective Solar Absorbance”
12:05 – 12:25 PM Tasnia Javin Nur (MSU)
“Effect of tool and prepreg surface topography on frictional slippage vs stretching response of Stretch Broken Carbon Fiber (SBCF) reinforced composite during forming”
12:25 – 1:35 PM Lunch
1:35 – 1:55 PM Daniel Goettlich (Montana Tech)
“Recovery of Iron from Copper and Steelmaking Slags”
1:55 – 2:15 PM Sheikh Parvez (MSU)
“Integration and Control of 2D Quantum Materials with Surface Acoustic Wave Devices”
2:15 – 2:35 PM Mitchell Harvey (Montana Tech)
“Selective Oxidation for Recycling Sm2Co17 Permanent Magnets”
2:45 – 4:00 PM Poster Session