People

Peter Kroll

Peter Kroll

Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Peter Kroll is Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington. His group investigates the synthesis and transformations of ceramics at ambient and high pressures, with a current focus on high- and ultra-high-temperature ceramics. His work employs both computational methods, including density functional theory and machine-learning interatomic potentials, and experiments in the laboratory.

Peter studied physics and mathematics at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, received his PhD from TU Darmstadt, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. He completed his habilitation at RWTH Aachen before joining UTA in 2007. He is a Fellow of The American Ceramic Society.

Current members

Shariq Haseen

ComputationPostdoctoral researcher · PhD UT Arlington 2022

Machine-learning interatomic potentials, carbon in ceramics, 2D heterostructures.

Kendall Hendrix

ExperimentPhD student

Polymer-derived ultra-high-temperature ceramics: HfSiCO monoliths and fibers.

Former members

PhD

NameYearFocusThesis
Hannah Hayes2026ExperimentSynthesis and Characterization of Polymethylhydrosiloxane-Based Materials: Environmental Remediation, Unusual Oxidative Behavior, and Kinetic Analysis
Mitchell Falgoust2025ComputationMachine Learning Interatomic Potentials for the Conversion of Polysiloxanes to SiCO Ceramics
Shariq Haseen2022ComputationComputational materials chemistry: from polymer precursors to ceramics and high-pressure materials
Hanof Alkhaldi2021ComputationTemperature-Pressure Phase Diagrams of Metal Nitrogen Compounds through Density Functional Theory Computations and Thermodynamic Calculations
Poroshat Taheri2021ExperimentStudy of Hierarchy and Pore Architecture of Porous Materials
Susana Aguirre-Medel2019ExperimentSynthesis and Characterization of Porous and Dense Silicon Oxycarbide (SiCO) Materials
Ilia Ponomarev2019ComputationStructure Modeling and Property Calculations of Amorphous Materials
Atreyi Dasmahapatra2017ComputationStructure and Property Calculations of Amorphous Ceramics and Glasses using Density Functional Theory Calculations and Empirical Potential Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Munuve Mwania2015ExperimentInvestigation of Colloidal Silicon Carbide Nanoparticles: Fabrication, their Surface Chemistry and Photophysical Aspects

MS

NameYearFocusThesis
Takhya Holley2025ExperimentKinetic Analysis of a Carbon-Rich SiCO Model System
Akshada Hande2023ExperimentReactive Atmosphere Pyrolysis (RAP) of Silicon Carbonitride (SiCN) Ceramics
Timothy Aaron West2020ComputationInvestigation of Computational Determination of Elastic Properties for Silicon Nitride and Silicon Carbonitride Materials
John-Paul Nimmo2017ComputationApplication of DFT-derived relationships between chemical environment and 29Si NMR spectroscopy to determine structure in silicon oxycarbide ceramics
Greg Monson2016ExperimentPhotoluminescence of Silicon Carbide Nanoparticles (awarded posthumously)
Nelli Bodiford2013ComputationCrystalline SiCO: Implications on Structure and Thermochemistry of Ternary Silicon Oxycarbide Ceramics
Arindom Goswami2011ComputationA Diffusionless Transformation Path Relating Th3P4 and Spinel Structure: Opportunities to Synthesize Ceramic Materials at High Pressures
Todd Topley2010ComputationStructural and Electronic Properties of Gallium Nitride Clusters

Postdoctoral researchers

  • Ali Zaoui
  • Jose Garcia
  • Ranber Singh
  • Atsushi Togo
  • Jianguang Wang
  • T. S. Mahadevan
  • Bin Xu
  • Ningbo Liao
  • Babak Kouchmeshky
  • Christin Morrow
  • Nisha Mohan
  • Xiaojian Mao