Dr. Melissa G. Arredondo

Melissa G. Arredondo, Ph.D. is Applied Materials Research Scientist at United Precision Corp. She dreams of humans leaving the planet, and wants to create materials that enable that endeavor. She is focused on Nanotech and Physics. She is also a photographer, mother, and Caretaker of Horses and Chihuahuas.

Melissa is the author of SBIR NASA proposals on conductive materials, and provides marketing and technical support in sales meetings for Fortune 500 companies.

She works with the DOE on the production of polymers with various fillers for the enhancement of electromagnetic properties, and consults firms specializing in applied chemistry for commercial nanotechnology, SBIR proposals, bulk generation of inorganic quantum dots, and experienced industrial chemical consulting services.

Melissa earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and in Biotechnology in 1999 from California Polytechnic University. She earned her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and Condensed Matter Physics in 2006 from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Between 1999 and 2006, she was a Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant at Georgia Institute of Technology where she received multiple research and teaching awards. Her research included synthesization and characterization of molecule-like magnetite (quantum dots) nanoparticles, with sizes ranging from 1 to 2 nm, in order to investigate new properties arising from quantum size effects.

As a Teaching Assistant, she was responsible for Graduate Quantum Mechanics, Graduate Thermodynamics and Kinetics, Physical Chemistry Lab, Physics Thermodynamics, Chemistry Thermodynamics, Undergraduate Quantum Mechanics, and Molecular Spectroscopy.

In 2008, after her Ph.D., she did her Postdoctoral Research at Suniva and Norcross, GA, where she was responsible for improving wet etching on monocrystalline silicon wafers and development of new technologies for the advancement of one-sun solar cell performance, including junction formation, ion implant, texturing, metal contacts, and characterization methods.

She was a principal researcher on an international materials patent that included a unique design of experiment, custom characterization methods, and an extensive marketing campaign. She has also worked in a large startup research facility that included SOP and QA/QC development, in addition to cutting edge materials research.

These positions were a direct result of her academic research in magnetic nanoparticles. Understanding trends in nanomaterial properties such as work function, ionization potentials, fragmentation energies, bond energies, vibrational frequencies, magnetic behavior, and other spectroscopic constants will aid in the design and implementation of new condensed matter materials. Nanotechnology will assist development of low cost, high-performance materials that are smaller and more efficient.

Her unique education at the interface of chemistry and physics coupled with her prior industrial experience are valuable assets to both established research and development programs, as well as any new startup dream, and she is looking forward to contributing to our great set of evolving scientific knowledge.

Since childhood, her passions were science, space, and horses and they followed her into adulthood.

Melissa is passionate about science, and is by nature not afraid of failures as they always provide an opportunity to learn. She also volunteered at the William Shatner’s Hollywood Charity Horse Show as auction assistance and set up.

Visit her LinkedIn profile, her ResearchGate profile, and her Photography page. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Pictame, 500px, and Pinterest.