{"id":402,"date":"2026-02-12T16:07:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T16:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/?page_id=402"},"modified":"2026-03-03T17:48:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:48:51","slug":"team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/team\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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Prof. Kinga Unocic<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Principal Investigator
Associate Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
3028 Engineering Building I
kaunocic@ncsu.edu<\/a> <\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Bio<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Kinga Unocic, Ph.D. received her master\u2019s degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland in 2002, and her doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2008. Prior to NC State MSE, Kinga was a Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2009.

In her spare time, Kinga enjoys spending time with her family, skiing, running and playing ice hockey.<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Research<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Her research interests include high-temperature oxidation, corrosion, materials in extreme environments, radiation effects, novel materials processing, alloy development, mechanical behavior, and catalysis.<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Dr. Jorge Galeano-Cabral<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Posdoctoral Research Scholar
Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
3021 Engineering Building I
jgalean@ncsu.edu<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Bio<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Jorge received his master\u2019s degree (2022) and Ph.D. (2024) in Mechanical Engineering from Florida State University. He previously served as a Research Assistant and then Postdoctoral Research Associate at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida.


In his spare time, Jorge enjoys camping, kayaking, playing rugby, and video games.<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Research<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Development of novel oxidation-resistant high-entropy alloys for extreme environments. The goal is to uncover fundamental insights into how HEAs degrade, or resist degradation, under harsh environments, with applications in aerospace, energy, and nuclear systems.<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Swaroop Saralkar<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Ph.D. Student in\u00a0Materials Science and Engineering
sksaralk@ncsu.edu<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Bio<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

Swaroop received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya in 2024 and a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering\u00a0at NC State University\u00a0in 2025


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Research<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

He investigates Ni-based superalloys, including Inconel 718, Haynes 230, and Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) alloys, focusing on processing, microstructure, and environmental performance. This work supports materials design for gas turbines, aerospace engines, energy systems, and other components exposed to high temperatures and oxidative environments.<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n
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Leo Soler<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

B.S. Student in\u00a0Materials Science and Engineering
Undergraduate Research Assistant
lgsoler@ncsu.edu<\/a>

Projects:<\/em>
– Investigating oxidation and degradation behavior of HEAs at high temperatures
– Performing compositional analysis of powders to gain insights into additive manufacturing processes
– Applying machine learning to study high-temperature oxidation and laser-particle interaction

Outside of the lab I enjoy biking, camping, cooking, golfing, and playing competitive video games.<\/p>\n\t \t \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Claire Fields<\/h3>\n \n\n \n\t \t

B.S. Student in\u00a0Materials Science and Engineering
Undergraduate Research Assistant
cafield5@ncsu.edu<\/a>

Projects:
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ALUMNI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  • Apolo Domingos – Undergraduate Student – 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Henry Stern – Undergraduate Student – 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Tyler Rihm – Doctoral Student – 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    ALUMNI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":695,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-402","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/695"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/402\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mse.ncsu.edu\/kaunocic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}