Group Members

Principle Investigator

Dr. Balk is the William T. Bryan Professor of Materials Engineering in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering. He has served as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the Pigman College of Engineering from 2018-2025, director of the Electron Microscopy Center since 2010, and he has directed the Materials Science Research Priority Area since 2023. Before joining UK in 2004, Dr. Balk served as a visiting scientist and staff scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, in Stuttgart, Germany. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

As a principal investigator, Dr. Balk has been funded by multiple sponsors including the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He leads a multi-institutional project, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), to develop novel first-wall materials to withstand the harsh conditions of a fusion reactor environment. His research group works to understand structure-property relationships in the behavior of metals, alloys and ceramics, with characterization of advanced materials as the cross-cutting aspect of his research program.

Dr. Balk’s honors include the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Faculty Achievement Award, the Pigman College of Engineering Awards for Excellence in Research and Excellence in Service, the Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching, and he received his program’s Outstanding Materials Engineering Teacher Award 10 times.

John Balk, Ph.D.

Principle Investigator Associate Vice President for Research Development and Support

Linked Department (or Location): Faculty Profile
Location Detail: Main Building
Email: john.balk@uky.edu
Phone: (859) 257-4582

Current Members

Alex Allamon Ph.D. Student

Research Areas

Interests: characterization
focusing on SEM. Currently working on steels. Outside of current work also interested in carbon matls.

Outside of work: interested in food blogging and the local community.

Huanhuan Bai Ph.D. Student

PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering with research focused on the micro-structure and properties of High Entropy Alloys.

Tibra Das Gupta Ph.D. Student

Research Areas

My research interests focus on the fabrication of nanoporous materials
testing their properties with different characterization techniques
and developing new de-alloying methods.

Dr. Michael Detisch Post-Doctoral Scholar

Doctoral candidate in materials engineering focused on incorporating nanoporous metallic films into metal-polymer composite membrane systems. Co-advised by Dr. Dibakar Bhattacharyya. Past projects include dispenser cathode studies.

Antonio Mantica Ph.D. Student

Alyssa Stubbers Ph.D. Student

Research Areas

My research interests include high temperature behavior of materials and how they apply to steelmaking and processing.

Artashes Ter-Isahakyan Ph.D. Student

Taohid Bin Nur Tuhser Ph.D. Student

PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering researching alloy development of high-entropy alloys and also more traditional alloys, which includes design, fabrication, characterization and testing of new alloys.