Victor K. Champagne

About Victor K. Champagne

I am a senior materials engineer at Solvus Global working on high-temperature materials and large-scale metals additive manufacturing. My PhD was conducted at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University and part of the Ultrahigh Temperature Impervious Materials Advancing Turbine Efficiency (ULTIMATE) program funded by ARPA-E. My research aimed to develop novel environmental-thermal barrier coating materials for turbine blades that withstand extreme temperatures and stresses. I worked as part of a team to select candidate materials, fabricate coatings, and evaluate their performance. I also worked on tuning optical and thermal properties of existing thermal barrier coating materials to minimize radiative heat transfer while maintaining low thermal conductivity for improved engine performance. My skills include synthesizing new materials, performing materials characterization, and building custom test rigs to evaluate thermal and optical properties of materials at high temperatures. Before joining Professor David Clarke’s group at Harvard, I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in materials science and engineering. My past research experience with ceramics involved studying energy dissipation in superelastic zirconia granular packings and composites. I have previously worked with a diverse array of technologies, material classes, and research topics including joining of dissimilar materials using friction stir welding and cold spray, antibacterial coatings, and organic electronic sensors.

Experience

1. Senior Materials Engineer

   Solvus Global

   Jul 2024 — Present

Education

• Harvard University

  Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering

• University of Massachusetts Amherst

  Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering

  2013 — 2017

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Master of Science - MS, Materials Science and Engineering