People
Dr. Chelsey Zacherl Hargather - Associate Professor of Materials Engineering
chelsey.hargather[at]nmt.edu
Dr. Chelsey Hargather (Chelsey Zacherl) is an Associate Professor of Materials Engineering at New Mexico Tech. She teaches undergraduate courses in engineering design, computer programming, materials engineering, and physical metallurgy, as well as a graduate course in phase equilibria, phase transformations, and materials modeling using density functional theory. Dr. Hargather's research group uses state-of-the-art computational techniques to understand the behavior of specific alloying elements in or improve the performance of metallic engineering alloys. We have current research projects on diffusion in metals and deformation properties of FCC and BCC high-entropy alloys. Dr. Hargather's research has expanded into additive manufacturing techniques for solid rocket propellant, with current projects funded through Sandia National Laboratories, Army Research Lab, and X-Bow Launch Systems (via DARPA). Dr. Hargather advises graduate and undergraduate students on these research projects.
Dr. Hargather earned her PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 2012 and her BS in Materials Science & Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2008 (with a minor in French). Before becoming an assistant professor, Dr. Hargather was the Engineering Education Specialist at New Mexico Tech on a US Department of Education Title III HSI-STEM grant.
15 Jones Hall
575-835-5582
Current Students
Dylan Purcell - PhD student in Mechnaical Engineering, MS 2022
Danielsen Moreno - MS student in Materials Engineering, BS in Chemical Engineering
Joe Gatto - PhD student in Materials Engineering
Hannah Morgan-Smith Meyers - MS student in Materials Engineering
Kayleigh Cameron - MS Student in Materials Engineering
Benito Silva - BS student in Materials Engineering
Gabriel Beltran - BS Student in Materials Engineering
Ethan Hopwood - BS Student in Materials Engineering
Alumni
Christopher Lafferty - MS in Materials Engineering
Chis was with ACML for 3 years, received his MS from ACML in the summer of 2023. Chris now works at Intel.
Ethan Oesch - BS Student in Materials Engineering
Javier Ambrose - BS in Materials Engineering
Javier was with ACML for 3 years working on the additive manufacturing and energetics projects. He now works at Sandia National Laboratories.
Gabe Avilucea - PhD student in Materials Engineering
Zufuru Tejan-Kella - Master of Engineering Management
Zufuru worked on our energetic projects and now works with Edge Water Federal Contractor at Sandia National Laboratories.
Sabine Fuierer - BS Materials Engineering
Sabine worked on our energetic projects and now works at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
John "Mac" O'Connell - MS Materials Engineering
John “Mac” O’Connell received his Master of Science in Materials Engineering from ACML in February of 2021. He also received his Bachelor of Science degree from New Mexico Tech in 2017. His work focused on factors affecting self-diffusion coefficients calculated by first-principles.
Kristin Mackowski - MS in Materials Engineering
Kristin Mackowski received her Master of Science from ACML in May of 2020. She also received her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 2019 from New Mexico Tech. Her work focused on self-, dilute, and paired solute diffusion in an FCC silver host lattice.
Matthew Hinton - ME in Materials Engineering
Matthew Hinton received his Master of Engineering after working in ACML for two years. He got our additive manufacturing project off the ground, and joined X-Bow Launch Systems as an engineer.
Eric Galindo - BS in Materials Engineering
Eric Galindo worked on the additive manufacturing project in ACML for one year. Good luck in your future endeavors!
Joshua Strother - MS in Materials Engineering
Joshua Strother received his Master of Science from ACML in January of 2020, and his Bachelors of Science in Materials Engineering in May of 2018. His work focused on calculating stacking fault energies and database generation in BCC HEAs.
Alexandra Scheer - MS in Materials Engineering
Alexandra (Ali) Scheer received her Masters of Science from ACML in August of 2018. She also received her Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Engineering May 2017 at New Mexico Tech. Her work focused on calculating stacking fault energies in FCC HEAs.
Harrison Lee - BS in Materials Engineering
Harrison received his BS in Materials Engineering from New Mexico Tech in 2018, after 3 years of doing research in ACML. He is currently pursuing a PhD at RPI.