Our research focus is in the mechanical characterization of solids and structures in challenging environments, and at high temperatures in particular. We are especially interested in the role that environment plays on a material's ability to withstand heterogeneous failure mechanisms such as fracture, fatigue, and creep.

Our lab uses advanced imaging techniques to extract full-field, in situ strain and temperature measurements across multiple length scales. These techniques are applied to a wide variety of advanced high temperature materials (including metals, ceramics, and composites), with applications geared towards the energy, aerospace, and nuclear industries.

News

Feb 19, 2020: Our lab swept again at the MAE department awards:
  1. Emma German as Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher of the Year;
  2. Ashley Buxton for the Brandon Paulsen Service Award;
  3. Brandon Furman as Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher of the Year;
  4. Adam Smith as Outstanding MS Researcher of the Year;
  5. Thinh Thai as Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Scholar of the Year; and
  6. Prof. Berke was also recognized as the MAE Graduate Research Mentor of the Year!

Feb 7, 2020: Ashley, Harley, and Fiona present at the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research.

Dec 9, 2019: Shelby, Elizabeth, and Savannah are accepted into USU's Engineering Undergraduate Research Program (EURP). Congratulations!

Nov 14-17, 2019: Emma, Harley, and Kacy present at the annual meeting of Out in STEM in Detroit, MI.

Nov 13, 2019: Adam wins Second Place and Robert wins Third in a student competition hosted by the ASME committee on Experimental Mechanics.  Congrats Adam and Robert!

Nov 10-13, 2019: The lab presents a combined 15 posters/talks at the annual ASME conference in Salt Lake City. And we thought SEM was busy!

Oct 11, 2019: Dr. Berke is awarded a prestigious Young Investigator grant from AFOSR. He is deeply honored.

Aug 30, 2019: Dr. Berke secures $400,000 from NRC for graduate fellowships to promote nuclear engineering research at USU.

June 3-6, 2019: Robert, Thinh, Adam, Weston, Bobby, Brandon, and Emma G. give a combined 9 talks at the SEM Annual Conference in Reno, NV. Busy week for the lab!

April 17, 2019: Robert's paper, "A high magnification UV lens for high temperature optical strain measurements" is available from Review of Scientific Instruments.

News Archive