MMC ’25 Highlights: Celebrating Community and Research

Hundreds of researchers from academia, industry and government labs from around the world recently came together to discuss the latest advances in materials-allied research and innovation at the 2025 Ohio State Materials & Manufacturing Conference (MMC).

This year, the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR) welcomed dozens of external speakers and researchers from the Ohio State materials and manufacturing community for two days of technical talks, as well as IMR’s keynote address and the MMC ‘25 poster session.

This is the 14th MMC event held by IMR as an opportunity to connect Ohio State’s materials and manufacturing community, celebrate their accomplishments, and explore innovative research. The event was held April 30 to May 1 at Ohio State’s Scott Lab.

Session talks were organized by leading research centers at Ohio State. The topics were chosen to reflect the breadth of the university’s materials and manufacturing community and included:

• Materials Science, Technology & Manufacturing in Space and Harsh Environments; 
• Wide Bandgap and Ultra-Wide Bandgap Semiconductors; 
• The Heart of the Second Quantum Revolution; 
• Materials Discovery and Development in the Center for Emergent Materials; 
• AI-Driven Digital Twin Modeling for Next-Generation Battery Manufacturing; and
• Characterizing Next-Generation Materials with Cutting-Edge Electron Microscopy Techniques.

In total, 33 external speakers and researchers from the Ohio State materials and manufacturing community shared their research during the MMC ‘25 sessions.

Keynote Address

MMC ’25 opened with a keynote from Dr. Richard A. Vaia, chief scientist in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate in Dayton, Ohio.

His talk guided attendees through the history of aerospace materials and manufacturing, from the Wright Flyer to the F-47 fighter jet and Starship spacecraft, and emphasized the urgent need to embrace digital tools to accelerate future discoveries.

“Everything is made of something, and thus impactful materials research is a multi-disciplinary endeavor.  IMR has fostered this diverse, engaged, and energized community at Ohio State,” he said. “They are developing the future leaders we need by tackling some of the hardest materials and manufacturing process challenges that are limiting tech solutions for many social issues.”

Poster Session

Fifty graduate students shared their research projects during the event’s poster session. Presenters represented not only the College of Engineering but a wide range of other departments from across Ohio State, including Astronomy, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Food Science and Technology, and Physics.

"The MMC student poster session provided me with an exciting opportunity to present my research to a wide-ranging audience encompassing various dimensions of the materials research field,” said Anant Sohale, a top poster session awardee and graduate student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Sohale, who is advised by professor Umit S. Ozkan, presented “Synthesis and characterization of boron-doped CNx materials for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells.”

“All the posters were very informative and it was a great learning experience, both as an attendee and a poster presenter," he said.

Sohale and the other top ten presenters were recognized the following day, during the MMC award ceremony. The awards were presented by Thomas Kolbusch, Vice President and Director of Sales, Marketing and Technology at Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH.

Introducing the Dr. Robert J. Davis Internship Award

Also during the ceremony, IMR introduced a new award for undergraduate interns that recognizes not only exceptional contributions to the institute’s Experiential Learning Program, but honors the legacy of Dr. Robert J. Davis.

Since Davis launched the program at Nanotech West Lab in 2011, more than 225 engineering and administrative interns have worked alongside IMR staff during their undergraduate studies.

The first Dr. Robert J. Davis IMR Internship Award recognized Arianna Mena, whose dedication and contributions as a multiyear intern exemplify the ideals and vision for experiential learning that Davis helped establish within IMR and Nanotech West Lab.

“It is such an incredible honor to receive this award from IMR, an organization dedicated to uplifting students through research and innovation,” Arianna said. “Working for IMR allowed me to become a better engineer, taught me skills that will make me successful post-graduation, and create lasting relationships with smart and driven people.”

There is a poignant connection between Arianna’s story and that of Davis, IMR’s first associate director and the founding director of Nanotech West Lab. Arianna’s connection to IMR runs deeper than her time at IMR’s Nanotech West Lab. While exploring her late father Rafael Mena’s academic legacy, Arianna came across his dissertation and noticed the name of his advisor: Steven Ringel, now IMR’s executive director. Rafael was Ringel’s first doctoral student. That discovery led her to reach out and soon after join the undergraduate internship program that Davis had championed.

Following the recognition, Arianna said joining IMR was the best decision of her college career and thanked Steve Ringel, Jay Sayre, and Aimee Price for their support throughout her time with the institute, from her undergraduate studies to recently earning a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Ohio State. “I will be forever grateful for the IMR staff and my time working with them,” she said. Her experience as an intern reflects the kind of lasting, personal impact Davis envisioned when he launched the program.

“My positive experience influenced my decision to pursue graduate school and enter research more seriously,” Arianna said. “There is no other organization that has fostered my passion for learning and supported me during my college career like IMR.”

MMC ‘25 was sponsored by Taiyo Nippon Sanso, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH and their U.S. distributor next Machinery Group.

We look forward to next year’s MMC event, set for May 6-7, 2026!