Thursday, April 9, 2026
UNT's Andrey Voevodin earns R.F. Bunshah Award
As a professor of materials science and engineering, 鈥檚 research can be applied to multiple fields, but all of the projects have one thing in common.
鈥淥ne of the benefits and beauty of materials science is that you can look at the different materials from different perspectives, but it all comes back to the basic fundamentals,鈥� says Voevodin, who is also associate dean for research in the at The .
鈥淲hat is the material鈥檚 chemistry, bond structure, bond strength and how will it respond to its operating conditions? The applications may change, but that core idea stays the same.鈥�
With decades of research, professional leadership and student mentorship, he鈥檚 now being recognized by the , an international society focused on materials, interfaces and processing. The is a lifetime achievement award, and, as part of the award, he鈥檒l be the honorary speaker at the 52nd International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films in April.
鈥淚鈥檓 just very honored because so many prominent people in the field have received this award before and now, I can count myself among them,鈥� says Voevodin. 鈥淚鈥檝e been going to society meetings since 1994, and it鈥檚 been a very rewarding experience.鈥�
Voevodin has been an active member with the society and has served as a board member, treasurer, conference chair, conference general chair and as a member of the various committees. To him, the most rewarding part of his involvement has been connecting with his colleagues through this work and at conferences and meetings.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tightknit community where we enjoy sharing our knowledge with each other and with our students, too. We help them make connections at the conferences and share their resumes with each other and industry partners.鈥�
Voevodin also encourages his students to speak at the conferences when they can.
鈥淚 have a talented Ph.D. student, Euan Cairns, graduated last year who presented at the conference, and then I introduced him to people from the industry there. Now, he works at Woodward in Fort Collins, and he鈥檚 coming back to speak this year to the same conference as a representative for the company.鈥�
Currently, Voevodin advises one doctoral student and one master鈥檚 student while co-advising five more doctoral students.
鈥淪eeing their success is the most rewarding part of my job. They first come in and don鈥檛 know their way around their lab and then you watch them grow and learn and become comfortable in a lab and also with presenting their research to others.鈥�
Voevodin鈥檚 research focus is on coatings and thin films applied through a process called plasma assisted physical vapor deposition. The thin films materials can be used on all kinds of products, ranging from wear and friction reduction coatings, to functional layers in semiconductor devices, and to protective barrier coatings that can withstand high temperatures such as during space flight.
Due to the various applications for his work, Voevodin collaborates with multiple
professors at UNT, including members of the Center for Microelectronics in Extreme
Environments, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processing Institute and the Center
for Agile and Adaptive Additive Manufacturing. He says his driving force goes back
to how materials science is the basis for many research projects and guiding the next
generation researchers to apply the materials science.
鈥淢y research success and my students鈥� success is the same thing. I discuss the results with them and advise them, but they鈥檙e the ones in the lab doing the day-to-day operations,鈥� says Voevodin. 鈥淭hen when we go to conferences, we can see how our contribution fits in the big picture and know we鈥檙e moving the science in the right direction.鈥�
From 鈥� Research: by Amanda Lyons