Seth Lawson

Seth Lawson is a Ph.D. student in the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Mr. Lawson is currently working as a graduate research assistant in the Radiochemistry Center for Excellence under the guidance of Professor Thomas T. Meek. A Knoxville native, Mr. Lawson began studying MSE in 2001 at UTK, working as an Undergraduate NSF-IGERT Intern from 2004 to 2005 before receiving his B.S. and commission as an officer in the United States Air Force in 2006. His undergraduate research involved compression testing of zirconium-based bulk metallic glasses. Lt. Lawson served as Space and Missile Officer as a member of the 12th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom AFB, providing command and control as part of a team responsible for 50 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 2011, Mr. Lawson returned to UTK and the MSE Department as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate introduction to MSE laboratory, acting as instructor and grader for a section of 16 undergraduate MSE students. Additionally, he began work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as a master’s student under the direction of Dr. Easo George in the Alloy Behavior and Design Group as part of the Radioisotope Power Systems Program. Mr. Lawson received his M.S. in the spring of 2015 with his report titled “Effects of Silicon on the Microstructure and High Strain Rate Tensile Impact Properties of Iridium Alloys.” Additional research was conducted into the effects of high-temperature aging on these iridium alloys as a part of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) program in the summer of 2015. Currently, Mr. Lawson is pursing his Ph.D. studying the fabrication of uranium-based semiconductors as part of an effort for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to design direct-conversion neutron detectors for counter-weapons of mass destruction (WMD) applications. Mr. Lawson presented a poster on July 20, 2016, at the DTRA Basic Research Technical Review titled “Fabrication and Microstructure of Sintered U3O8 Pellets.” Mr. Lawson will present additional work at the American Vacuum Society’s (AVS) 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition in November 2016 under the working title of “Dependence of Electrical Conductivity on Observed Microstructure of Sintered U₃O₈” and he will present a poster for the TMS 2017 146th Annual Meeting and Exhibition titled “Characterization of the Stoichiometry of Sintered Depleted U₃O₈ using Automated Cerimetry.”