People

Always looking for motivated undergraduate and graduate students. Backgrounds in materials, chemistry, and physics preferred. Apply to the CMU Materials Science and Engineering Department Graduate Program here.

No postdoctoral positions available at this time – please check back at a later date.

Principal Investigator

Juan R. Chamorro

Assistant Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Courtesy Appointment, Department of Physics

Wean Hall 4305

Tel: (412) 268-7178

Email: jrchamorro@cmu.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Graduate Students

Hayden Nuyens

First year PhD student

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Email: hnuyens@andrew.cmu.edu

About: Hayden grew up in San Rafael, California before moving south to get his BS in physics from UCLA. His studies largely focused on the regimes of nuclear and atomic physics, with research involving radioactivity, optics, and collaborative work on deep learning neural networks. He went on to acquire his MS in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon, where he studied solid state physics, computational materials science, nanomaterials, and sustainable energy science. Now, Hayden is a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon investigating solids with complex quantum mechanical behavior. In his free time, he enjoys composing and listening to music, practicing bass guitar, pestering his cat, and playing video games. He joined the Chamorro Group in the fall of 2025.

Julian Marmo

Second year PhD student

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Email: jmarmo@andrew.cmu.edu

About: Julian was raised in Queens, New York, and earned his BA in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University in 2024. His research background spans a variety of fields, including device fabrication, material development for polymer additive manufacturing, and metamaterial design. Currently, his focus has shifted to the study of quantum materials synthesis and flux crystal growth. In his free time, Julian enjoys card games, watching sports, reading, and spending time with his dogs. He joined the group in the Fall of 2024.

Nicholas Shkolnikov

Second year PhD student

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Email: nshkolni@andrew.cmu.edu

About: Nicholas is a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University studying materials science and engineering. He is originally from San Francisco and earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. As an undergraduate, Nicholas participated in hands-on research in two areas: feasibility study on Carbon Dioxide Emissions mitigation through green Methanol and Dimethyl Ether synthesis in Coffeyville, KS and cell failure analysis of lithium-ion batteries. Outside of school, Nicholas enjoys running, cooking, reading books, listening to music, and playing board games. He is researching bulk solid state synthesis and characterization of a variety of inorganic compounds that can potentially host quantum phenomena. He joined the group in the Fall of 2024.

Tong Wang

Second year PhD student

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Email: tongwan2@andrew.cmu.edu

About: Tong was born in Dalian, China. She obtained her B.Eng. in Electronic Science and Technology from Northwest University in 2021 and her M.Eng. from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2024. Her research experience so far has focused on semiconductors and DFT calculations, and she will now focus on materials synthesis and characterization, as well as AI computer vision. In her free time, she enjoys music, playing the zheng (a traditional Eastern stringed instrument), and building LEGO. She joined the group in the Fall of 2024.

Undergraduate Students