College of

Engineering, Architecture and Technology

_{Christine Brockman with her Ph.D. committee members, Professor Jim Smay (right), Dr. Pankaj Sarin and Dr. Jake Bair (left) after her successful defense. Professor Raman Singh of MAE and Dr. Amjad Almansour of NASA Glenn Research Center were the other committee members on her Ph.D. committee.}

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Christine Brockman, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. candidate in the School of Materials, Mechatronics & Manufacturing Engineering, successfully defended her dissertation on October 10, 2025. Her research, entitled Multimodal Approach for the In-Situ Investigation of High Temperature Tensile Behavior and Damage Progression of SiC_f/SiC Ceramic Matrix Minicomposites, involved the mechanical testing of ceramic matrix composite systems at temperatures up to 2700°F (1482°C).

 

CMCs are advanced materials valued for their high temperature performance, making them desirable for next-generation aerospace, energy and defense applications. Brockman’s research introduced an experimental approach that combines mechanical testing with advanced imaging and acoustic-based damage monitoring techniques at high temperatures. This integration enabled a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanical properties and the evolution of damage within the CMC specimens, which is critical for evaluating their design and durability.

 

Brockman’s research was primarily supported through a NASA Fellowship, which she began in the fall of 2021. Throughout her fellowship, Brockman performed her experiments at both the Helmerich Research Center at OSU-Tulsa and NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, under the guidance of Dr. Pankaj Sarin, associate professor of MSE, and NASA technical advisors. Brockman has had the opportunity to present her research work at national and international conferences.

 

During her time at Oklahoma State University, Brockman served as a Graduate and Professional Student Government Association student representative for MSE and was active in the American Ceramic Society President’s Council of Student Advisors. She has won several awards and recognitions including the OSU Graduate College’s Jean & Robert Schuetz Distinguished Scholar Award (2024), CEAT’s MSE Outstanding Graduate Student Award (2025), DOE’s NNSA Fellowship (2021) and NASA’s MUREP Fellowship (2021-2024). Brockman holds a bachelor’s degree in MSE from Georgia Tech, which she received in 2020. Following her defense, Brockman joined CoorsTek in Golden, CO, as an R&D engineer.