James Brackett

James Brackett attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), where he graduated with a B.S. in Honors Materials Science and Engineering in May 2017 and Doctor of Philosophy in Energy Science and Engineering in 2023 for his work in the Additive Manufacturing field. He joined the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Department as an undergraduate research assistant in January 2014. There, he worked with a vacuum-chambered, uni-axial hot press and a miniature injection molding unit. He spent the summer of 2014 working at an injection molding factory to supplement his research experience so that he would be adequately trained to operate the machine on behalf of the MSE Department when necessary. In addition to this responsibility, Brackett was given the opportunity to become the Department's specialist in the operation of the aforementioned hot press. He then spent the summer of 2015 involved in the Volkswagen Distinguished Scholars Program at Oak Ridge National Lab, before returning to his work as an undergraduate research assistant. Over the next two years, he gained significant experience working with Dr. Uady Vaidya in thermoplastic composites processing, characterization, and mechanical testing. The work provided practical experience with tensile, flex, and impact mechanical characterization, optical imaging analysis, plastic-composite extrusion processing, compression molding, and wet-laid fiber-plastic composite processing. Following this experience, he transitioned into the Energy Science and Engineering program at the University of Tenneessee, where his thermoplastic knowledge is being used to focus on developing Additive Manufacturing capabilities in the realm of multi-materials and functionally graded material structures. Specifically, he is a part of the team at Oak Ridge National Lab's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility that is developing in-situ material switching on the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) polymer extrusion system.