Tim and Steve talked with Dr. Paul Krajewski, the Director of Materials and Manufacturing Research at the General Motors Global Research and Development Center, about sustainability at GM, his work, what he looks for in hiring, and much more. He even talks to us about his STEAM interests and the books he has written for kids.

BIO

Dr. Paul E. Krajewski is the Director of Materials and Manufacturing Research at the General Motors Global Research and Development Center. Paul also represents GM as the USCAR Council Member and as the Technical Director for HRL Laboratories. Dr. Krajewski is a global expert in vehicle lightweighting and lightweight materials and manufacturing. He received his Bachelors and Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has led production implementations with aluminum, magnesium, and carbon fiber composites including body panels on the 2014 Corvette Stingray. Dr. Krajewski has 80 publications and has been awarded 81 US Patents. He has been recognized by Fortune Magazine (40 under 40) and MIT’s Technology Review (TR100) as a leading innovator, and is a Fellow of ASM International. He has appeared as a subject matter expert on the History Channel's Modern Marvels Aluminum Program and won numerous automotive industry innovation awards. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2020. Paul has also published three children’s STEM / STEAM books entitled “What's In Your Car”, " What's In Your Body", and "What's In Your Plane".

Book Website - https://periodictablebooks.com/

Link to GMR&D’s website https://www.gm.com/research

Link to job openings at GM https://search-careers.gm.com/en/jobs/

The YouTube video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/y75UqJXN1ds

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the TMS Foundation and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talk with Professor Rob Beck at the University of Michigan. Rob and Steve teach a joint course combining MSE with Archaeology & Anthropology to teach materials engineering students about the humanities and to teach humanities students about engineering. The course is called "Making Things: Three Million Years of Materials and Culture". It is based on work that Kevin Jones (see podcast episode S1E8) did in his Impact of Materials on Society project. This version was reworked with Archaeology instead of the Sociology. We discuss all aspects of the course, including many tangents into the wild world of materials history and culture!

You can find our more about Rob here:
https://lsa.umich.edu/anthro/people/faculty/archaeological-faculty/rabeck.html

The article about Rob's work in Cahokia that he talks about at the end of the podcast can be found here (highly recommended reading):
https://lsa.umich.edu/lsa/news-events/lsa-magazine/lsa-magazine-archive/spring-2025/notes-from-underground.html

Rob is also Curator of the UM Museum of Anthropological Archaeology: https://lsa.umich.edu/ummaa

You can find a video where Rob and Steve talk about the course for a virtual talk they presented on the meaning of social learning here:
https://youtu.be/osBdpU5VA_s

A video introducing the course from a few years ago can be found here:
https://youtu.be/e82iosMorBo

The YouTube video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/nxeVc67cLkk

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the TMS Foundation and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Tim and Steve interview Dr. Tricia Nguyen about her career in textiles that evolved from her degrees in Materials Science & Engineering. She currently owns and operates a historical embroidery company, Thistle Threads: https://thistle-threads.myshopify.com/pages/about-us . If you're interested in learning more, you can even take classes in historical needlework projects at her online university! https://thistle-threads.thinkific.com/ . We also discuss the implications of her research for STEM education and how we can engage more women in STEM careers.

The YouTube video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/BkTVetZBhv0

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talked with Professor Ivan Baiges from University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez about the new undergraduate program he and his team developed called Sustainability Engineering. He described the need for such a program, especially in Puerto Rico, as well as how he went about assembling a team of faculty to do the hard work of creating new courses, convincing administrators, and making it happen. He suggested several books that inspired him, and he recommends them to all interested in Sustainability Engineering.

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/DB3lG_fE9L0

Here is his reading list:
On the subject of “Emergy or Embodied Energy

Environment, Power, and Society for the Twenty-First Century: The Hierarchy of Energy Illustrated Edition; by Howard Odum (Author)ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780231128872

Emergy or EMbodied/EMbedded energy is based on the concept that the value of something (ecosystem, products/materials, services, built environment, etc.) is based on the amount of resources/energy that goes into creating that something, instead of how much one is willing to pay for it. This is an excellent method to understand the actual value of any given material solution.

On the subject of Economics in a different light:
Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher (Author)
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth (Author)
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken , Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins (you can download the whole book in pdf format at https://www.natcap.org/ )

On circular design and the circular economy:
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability--Designing for Abundance, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Circular Economy, Ellen MacArthur Foundation https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

You can find more about Ivan at this link: www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-baiges-valentin-023106223; email ivan.baiges@upr.edu

You can find more about the U. Puerto Rico Mayaguez Sustainability Engineering here: https://www.uprm.edu/isos/en/ (ISOS stands for Ingenieria de Sostenibilidad or Sustainability Engineering)

You can find more about the U. Puerto Rico Mayaguez here: https://www.uprm.edu

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Professor David Srolovitz has made many important contributions to materials science and engineering during his career. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and will be receiving the Hume-Rothery award at TMS next year. He was visiting Michigan to present the Larry Van Vlack lecture and we were honored by his presence. Dave and Steve were grad students together at U. PA many years ago. Liz Holm, the UM Materials Science and Engineering chair was Dave's second PhD student when Dave was a professor at UM. Unfortunately, Dave's schedule was tight and the only time we were able to sit down with him was during Tim's class. So Liz graciously sat if for Tim and was this week's guest host. It was great to talk to Dave and Liz about his career, teaching, research, AI, and other topics. We even found out where Dave gets his best ideas! Dave is currently the Dean of Engineering at Hong Kong University.

You can find the YouTube version here:
https://youtu.be/fUpfMayle3I

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talked with Professor John Allison about Integrated Computational Manufacturing Engineering (ICME) and his PRISMS center. John talked about how creating the Virtual Aluminum Casting program at Ford led to the ability to predict properties of the as cast aluminum engine blocks to the point where they were perfect the first time. This vastly improved the time to develop new products for Ford and helped significantly to the development of lighter weight vehicles. John also talked about his current role in helping improve the recycling of aluminum waste for large scale castings using ICME. John also talks about his new PRISMS center, Magnesium alloys, the importance of team dynamics in accomplishing his work, and how he got into materials science and engineering.

You can learn more about the PRISMS center here:
https://prisms-center.org/#/home

You can find the YouTube version here:
https://youtu.be/pF0YSMdrNBA

Our YouTube channel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/@Undercooled.Materials

This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Tim and Steve talked with Lily Turaski from Georgia Tech at the NAMES conference in August, 2025. Today's episode focuses on engineering education research. We discussed the importance of education research and how it applies to actually teaching, what are the barriers to adoption of research-based teaching strategies, and important problems in education research. We also discussed some preliminary results from Lily's ongoing research in materials education.

You can find the YouTube version here:
https://youtu.be/MzkBTuO2sJ0
Check out the video version to see the visual presentation of research results!

This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim caught up with Professor Alison Polasik at the 2025 NAMES meeting in Atlanta. We talked about what it is like to teach at a small school, Campbell University, compared to her previous position at Ohio State. We also talked about her research and what she is currently interested in. She has recently been teaching classes that are integrated with small laboratory experiences right in the same room

You can find the YouTube version here:
https://youtu.be/iDSLFpaSLdE?si=_--jufs-qmIC5KA7

This episode is sponsored by the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).