Malik Wagih is a 2024 Lawrence Fellow in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate's Materials Science Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he studies defects in metals. His journey to materials science research at Livermore has taken him across the country and the world.
Wagih is originally from Cairo, Egypt, where he enjoyed playing soccer from childhood through college. Growing up, Wagih was always drawn to science and mathematics, and physics was his favorite subject in high school. Engineering was particularly exciting to him because it combined science with real-world applications. He elected to keep his options broad by studying mechanical engineering for his undergraduate degree.
"Looking back, I am glad I made that choice," Wagih said. "I had fun exploring the different areas of mechanical engineering that range from robotics, engines and turbines, renewable energy, to mechanics of materials, which led me ultimately to my current research specialization: materials science and engineering."
After completing a bachelor's degree in Egypt, Wagih's studies brought him to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where, after navigating the intense change of pace of graduate school, he earned both a master's degree and Ph.D. in nuclear science and engineering.
"I think it took me about a year to buy a sweatshirt from MIT," he said, "because there was no guarantee that you were going to continue your Ph.D. program until a qualifier exam, usually taken in your secnd year. So I think that, on top of studying a lot, usually makes for a stressful combination."
Despite the challenging first year, Wagih settled in well, enjoying exploring the city of Boston in his free time and successfully completing both of his degrees. His Ph.D. pivoted more toward materials science and engineering, and he spent two additional years as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT in this area, setting him up for success at LLNL.
Now a Lawrence Fellow, a designation which enables postdoctoral researchers of any discipline to pursue their own independent research, Wagih studies metal defects through simulation and theory.
"At MIT, I focused on one type of defect called grain boundaries, and here at LLNL I'm trying to diversify more and get into other types, like vacancies and dislocations," he said. "Lawrence Livermore has some of the world's most renowned scientists in the areas of dislocations and plasticity in general."
Contrary to what one might think upon hearing the word defects, they are not always a bad thing to have in a material. For some applications, more is better - they can make a material harder or easier to break, for example. The properties they provide depend upon their type, as well as the interactions and distributions they have with each other, referred to as the microstructure of a material. Different temperatures and pressures lead to even more variety in material properties. "I think that's what makes defects fascinating - it's not necessarily that less is better," Wagih said.
Wagih studies defects at the atomistic scale, seeking to determine how they can be controlled, tailored and leveraged to provide specific microscopic and macroscopic properties to a material being developed. He applies these properties to structural applications for materials that allow them to withstand extreme conditions, continuing the real-world aspect of engineering that he has always enjoyed.
For example, before coming to Livermore, Wagih worked on a project developing new materials for fusion energy applications - an area that undoubtedly involves extreme temperatures and pressures. Fusion, increasingly relevant since Lawrence Livermore's ignition breakthrough, is just one example of where these materials can be applied. Other engineering and space exploration applications need specifically tailored, strong materials only possible to create by exploiting their defects.
"We still don't have the materials that can withstand all those conditions," Wagih said. "Part of unlocking that is looking at the fundamental basics of controlling and designing the materials. It is a very large space to search and look within, but that also means that there are lots of opportunities if you know where to look."
Besides research, Wagih's early time in Livermore has been spent discovering new things to do around the San Francisco Bay Area in between flying back to Boston to see his wife and infant daughter. He worked remotely to spend her first four months with her, and soon he will be traveling back to move them both to California. He admits he also catches up on sleep lost over many years of schooling whenever he has the chance, and he's also considering getting back into squash, which he used to play at MIT - indoor sports were a particularly good choice during Boston's winters.
Wagih is optimistic about the continued pursuit of his research as he carries out his fellowship and beyond.
"At LLNL, I have been enjoying the tremendous support and intellectual freedom provided by the Lawrence fellowship, which allows me to explore new and exciting research avenues," he said. "For the future, I would like to remain in an environment where I can continue to pursue science for the sake of open advancement of knowledge."
-Lilly Ackerman
