Before joining UTA he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Center of Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 2014. His research interests include mesoscale phase-field simulations on the microstructural evolutions and applications in functional oxides and energy-materials, such as transport dynamics and resistance degradation in dielectric capacitors, domain switching and phase transition in ferroelectric thin film, and electric, elastic and chemical coupling in nanoscale functional oxides.