Tim Rupert

Timothy Rupert, Engr ’07, ’07 (MSE), incoming professor of materials science and engineering and director of Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI), focuses on nanostructured materials and defect engineering.

Rupert specifically works to leverage materials that will enable new structural and energy technologies, increasing the reliability and lifetime of materials by finding new structure-property relationships in advanced nanomaterials. His current research areas include nanocrystalline metals and alloys, thin film materials, and the study of interfaces and defect phases at the atomic level. Using mixtures of computational and experimental techniques, he aims to push materials to be optimized for extreme environments, with goals to strengthen nanostructured materials for applications such as nuclear energy and defense.

He was previously a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Irvine Samueli School of Engineering. He also held a joint appointment as a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Irvine. Rupert also co-founded Foundation Alloy in 2022—a company that designs and manufactures novel metal alloys— aiming to reimagine alloy processing while improving material performance.

Rupert received his bachelor’s and master’s in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and earned his PhD in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.