LOWELL MIYAGI

My research interests center around understanding the mechanical properties of materials under extreme conditions. The main focus of this work is studying plasticity and texture (crystallographic preferred orientation) development in rocks and minerals as well as metals, ceramics, and oxides of interest to materials science.

My group seeks to understand

• How do rocks and minerals behave and deform under the extreme conditions of the Earth`s interior (lower mantle, inner core, etc)?
• What are the controls on mantle convection and how does this relate to and control plate tectonics?
• What happens to rocks and mineral during meteor impacts?
• Can we use lessons learned from studying the previous questions for Materials Science applications in order to engineer materials with superior mechanical properties?

To do this, we utilize high pressure and temperature deformation devices (diamond anvil cell and multi-anvil press), synchrotron x-ray diffraction techniques, and plasticity modeling.