Virginia Tech® home

Ray Peterson

Ph.D. Student in Macromolecular Science and Engineering

Ray is pursuing his PhD within the Macromolecular Science and Engineering (MACR) program at Virginia Tech and is co-advised by Dr. Michael Bortner (Polymer Composite and Materials Lab) and Dr. Christopher Williams (DREAMS Lab). His research interests include process-structure-property relationships of polymer materials and composites. Before Virginia Tech, Ray graduated from Iowa State University in 2020 with a B.S. in Materials Engineering, where he worked as an undergraduate researcher.

Ray has also held internships at NASA’s Langley Research Center, Luna Labs, and Dimond Bikes. After receiving his B.S., Ray worked at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, CA as a Materials Engineer. At Virginia Tech, Ray is President of Society of Plastics Engineers Student Chapter at VT and is a board member of the MACR Student Council. Besides research, Ray enjoys hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, gardening, and playing games with friends.

  • Direct Ink Write of Filled, Curing Polymer Systems and Understanding How Curing Leads to Tradeoffs in Mechanical Properties and Geometric Fidelity

  • Characterizing Extrusion and Solidification Behavior with Photo and Chemo-Rheological Measurements

Processes

  • Direct Ink Write