Amy Hsiao
Associate Professor
B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M.S. and Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
I received my Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Materials Science and Engineering in 1996. While at MIT, I had three consecutive summer internships at Intel Corporation in
Santa Clara, California, as well as various undergrad research opportunities developing materials for semiconductor, piezoelectric actuation, and fuel cell applications.
I completed my master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1998 and 2001 respectively. My doctoral thesis work focused on the processing and characterization of ferromagnetic alloys. Specifically, I used concurrent microstructural, thermal, and magnetic analysis to describe the crystallization kinetics of soft magnetic materials created using melt spinning or other rapid solidification techniques. I was
awarded a Chateaubriand Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2001 and continued research on the processing and characterization of magnetic nanoparticles at the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, located approximately four miles from the centre of Paris.
During several years in academia as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at a primarily liberal arts college in upstate New York, I had several opportunities to conduct research at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory. I also designed a set of materials science kinesic-learning experiments and was an active participant in creating a Nanotechnology minor in the undergraduate curriculum.
I moved to Newfoundland in 2006 and received my Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Memorial University in 2008. The MBA not only complemented my technical interests well, but opened up new fields of interest in strategy, organizational behaviour, strategic risk management, and entrepreneurship that are quite important in the technical arena. I joined the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University in January of 2009.
I am chair of the new Master in Engineering Management program that is a unique professional degree focused on training and developing engineers for managerial positions in technology-based sectors important to the province, nation, and world. My research interests now include both business and engineering facets; namely, strategic management in new product development, knowledge transfer of technology-based innovation, and analysis of new ventures in incubation and development. I am also engaged in several industrial outreach projects related to accelerated corrosion testing, the engineering of novel coatings, and the characterization and selection of materials used in harsh, marine environments. I continue to be active in basic science research on novel amorphous and nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials for potential energy, oil and gas, oceans, and wildlife applications.
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