Rebecca Mc Auliffe
About Rebecca Mc Auliffe
Rebecca McAuliffe is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, specializing in interdiffusion in thin film heterostructures and reaction mechanisms for complex oxides. She holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has extensive research experience in various academic institutions.
Work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Rebecca Mc Auliffe has been employed as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2018. In this role, she conducts advanced research focusing on interdiffusion in thin film heterostructures. Her work involves utilizing X-ray reflectivity and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to investigate material properties. Mc Auliffe's research contributes to the understanding of materials for energy applications, aligning with the laboratory's mission to advance scientific knowledge and technology.
Education and Expertise
Rebecca Mc Auliffe earned her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied from 2013 to 2018. Prior to this, she completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at Marquette University from 2009 to 2013. Her educational background provides a strong foundation in materials science, particularly in the synthesis of complex oxides and the application of various characterization techniques.
Research Experience
Prior to her current position, Rebecca Mc Auliffe gained valuable research experience in various roles. She worked as a Graduate Research Assistant in Materials Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2013 to 2018, focusing on reaction mechanisms for the synthesis of complex oxides using in-situ neutron diffraction. Additionally, she served as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computational Physics at Marquette University in 2011 and participated in the NSF Physics REU program at the University of Minnesota in 2012.
Research Focus and Techniques
Rebecca Mc Auliffe's research primarily centers on the synthesis and characterization of materials for energy applications. She focuses on the reaction mechanisms involved in the Y-Mn-O system and employs a combination of diffraction techniques, including neutron and X-ray diffraction, along with spectroscopy methods. Her work includes fabricating coin cells for electrochemical characterization and developing custom thin film sputter targets, which are essential for her research on thin film electrodes.