Julie M. Schoenung is Professor and Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in materials engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in ceramic engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Prof. Schoenung was recently selected to be the inaugural recipient of the 2017 Materials Science & Engineering-A Innovation in Research Award and the 2016 Acta Materialia Holloman Award for Materials & Society. She is an Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy and has served for many years as a Key Reader for Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A. Prof. Schoenung is a Fellow of Alpha Sigma Mu, the materials honor society, and a Fellow of ASM International.

Prof. Schoenung’s research activities seek to provide fundamental insight into structure-processing-property mechanistic relationships in material systems for a variety of applications. Innovative synthesis and consolidation processes are combined to fabricate material systems that exhibit unique behavior, thereby providing new knowledge into the mechanisms that govern the observed behavior. Of particular interest has been mechanical behavior, including novel work on the nanoindentation and nanoscratch behavior in ceramics and nanocomposites. Additive manufacturing has also been a focal point in recent years. Microstructural characterization, including in-situ techniques, and modeling efforts are critical components of these fundamental investigations.

Prof. Schoenung also has many years of experience in studying the materials-selection process in a variety of applications. She conducts research into the analysis of factors that guide the materials-selection decision-making process, such as economics, environmental impact and toxicity, cost-performance trade-offs, and market potential. Prof. Schoenung uses tools and datasets from several disciplines, including management theory, process economics, life cycle assessment, and environmental economics in her research approach.