Principal Investigators

Rajiv S. Mishra

Center Director and University of North Texas Site Director

Professor Rajiv Mishra, Distinguished Research Professor of materials science and engineering, is an expert in the development of alloy microstructures and the processing of materials properties. He earned a B.S. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur, India; a M.S. in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India; and a Ph.D. in metallurgy from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.
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Email: Rajiv.Mishra [@] unt.edu

Enkhsaikhan (EK) Boldsaikhan

Wichita State University Site Director

Professor Boldsaikhan is a research scientist/engineer in the Robotics and Automation lab of National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University (WSU). He is an expert in feedback signal analysis and evaluation of friction stir welding. Dr. Boldsaikhan has earned a Ph.D in Materials Engineering and Science and an M.S. in Computer Science from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, in Rapid City, SD, USA; and a B.S in software engineering from Mongolian University of Science and Technology, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Dr. Boldsaikhan’s research emphasis is on the implementation of robotics and automation in friction stir welding and its derivative technologies.
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Email: enkhsaikhan.boldsaikhan [@] wichita.edu

Anthony P. Reynolds

University of South Carolina Site Director

Professor A. P. (Tony) Reynolds: Reynolds is currently the Frank B. Herty Bicenntennial Chair in Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina. He obtained his PhD in Materials Science from the University of Virginia in 1990. Subsequently, he spent five years at NASA-Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia working in aerospace alloy development and development of specialized mechanical test techniques for fatigue and fracture evaluation. In 1995 he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2007. Since 1998, Tony has been performing research primarily in the area of friction-based processes for joining, forming, and microstructural modification: since 2004 he has been the USC site director for the Center for Friction Stir Processing which originated as an NSF-I/UCRC. During his time at USC Tony has been PI on more than $10M of funded research, and published numerous papers (over 7200 citations, H-index=44). Sponsors of his research include NASA, ONR, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Airbus, Bombardier, Alcoa, Alcan, Constellium and many others. He has served as a proposal reviewer for several government agencies and is on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Fatigue, Science, and Technology of Welding and Joining, and Metallurgical and Materials Transactions, A. Tony has mentored 10 PhD’s and 18 master’s students to completion of their degrees. He has also supervised 14 visiting scholars from outside the US. A comprehensive listing of his archival publications can be accessed here:
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Email: apr [@] sc.edu

Yuri Hovanski

Yuri Hovanski

Brigham Young University Site Director

Dr. Yuri Hovanski is an Associate Professor of Manufacturing Engineering Technology at Brigham Young University. He earned a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Washington State University. Professor Hovanski has participated in research related to friction stir technologies for nearly two decades, including work in weld formability, abnormal grain growth, and the influence of post-weld microstructure and texture on mechanical properties. More recently, he has focused on the development of low-cost solutions to facilitate industrial application of friction stir welding, introducing cost-efficient solutions for thermal telemetry, new tool materials and production techniques for friction stir spot welding tooling, high-speed friction stir welding for production of aluminum welded blanks, and friction stir scribe technology for joining very dissimilar materials.
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Email: yuri.hovanski [@] byu.edu

Dwight Burford

Dwight Burford

University of North Texas Research Professor

Dr. Dwight Burford joined the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes Institute (AMMPI) at UNT in September 2019 as a research professor.  After receiving his doctorate from the Colorado School of Mines in 1987, Dr. Burford conducted postdoctoral studies at Ohio State University.  In 1989, he joined Boeing in Wichita, Kansas, where, as an Associate Technical Fellow, he conducted research and development in metal forming, machining, welding, and heat treating.  Beginning in the fall of 2000, Dr. Burford’s R&D work in friction stir welding led to production flight hardware on 747-400F aircraft in mid-2005.  In the fall of 2005, he then joined the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University where he directed the Advanced Joining Lab.  Since 2012, Dr. Burford has worked as a metallurgical engineering consultant.
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Email: dwight.burford [@] unt.edu