TAM student's array of experiences help secure NSF Fellowship

Prior to receiving an NSF Fellowship as a graduate student, Elizabeth Jones worked with engineering and large manufacturing companies as an undergraduate. Now a PhD student in Theoretical and Applied Mathematics (TAM), she has immersed herself in the engineering and research field from the beginning of her college career.

She began with a semester of undergraduate research in the Civil Engineering Department. Throughout her four years of undergraduate, she worked at Caterpillar—known for large-scale machinery production.

"Often, I fixed the models themselves while making no actual changes to the parts," Jones said. "Towards the end of my time there, I was designing my own parts."

On weekdays, she traveled to the Champaign Simulation Center and spent 10 to 15 hours a week on the design team. As part of her role, she used computer-aided drafting software, Pro Engineer, to make computer models of different parts of the company's machinery.

"There were some really good mentors at Cat that sat down with me for literally two hours and taught me stuff I later learned in mechanics or materials classes," Jones said.

Jones notes that she was surprised that reviewers of her National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship application were interested in her designing at Caterpillar when she briefly mentioned the work.

"I actually got comments back from reviewers saying that they wish I talked more about what I did there," Jones said.

She advises any prospective applicants for similar fellowships to place emphasis on their experiences with industry before submitting an application.

However, Jones's motivation to pursue a higher education with graduate school was not the research. She was much more passionate about TAM classes and solid mechanic lectures and her French minor at the time.

"I moved to France for a year and I taught English at a high school in Brittany," Jones said. "I had international teaching experience."

When Jones found a topic that interested her for her own research, she began to find ways to fund the project. One of them was by applying for a NSF Fellowship.

After receiving the stipend from the NSF Fellowship, Jones said her interest in research increased as she studied the mechanics of lithium-ion batteries with MatSE professor Nancy R. Sottos.

"The electrodes in the batteries actually expand and contract when you discharge and charge the battery," Jones said. "I am measuring that expansion and contraction in commercial electrodes, which have relatively small expansions. The ultimate goal, however, is to study high-capacity electrodes, which currently undergo enormous expansions that result in cracking or complete pulverization of the electrode. I want to develop high-capacity electrodes with minimal expansion, in order to make them commercially viable."

For her postdoctorate research, Jones considers taking her studies beyond the state and into Los Alamos in New Mexico. Los Alamos is the national laboratory responsible for research ranging from the Manhattan Project to studying superconductivity.