JoAnn Ballor started her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Michigan State University in 2017. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University, along with minors in mathematical sciences and psychology. She investigated low-cost titanium alloys, specifically Fe and Al modified Ti-Cr alloys. Her project used a multi-scale multi-modal approach to determine the composition-processing-microstructure-property relationships of low-cost beta-Ti alloys. Using multi-scale microscopy techniques, she investigated how adding Fe and Al to a Ti-Cr alloy system and applying heat treatments affected the microstructure of the alloys. Mechanical testing was used to determine the effect those microstructural changes had on the mechanical properties of the alloys.
As part of this project, JoAnn was a recipient of the DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) fellowship and conducted atom probe tomography and transmission electron microscopy studies on the Ti-Cr alloys at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under Dr. Arun Devaraj. Outside of her material science work, She also participated in the Los Alamos Dynamic Summer School program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) applying augmented reality techniques to structural health monitoring.
JoAnn finished her Ph.D. in 2022.
