Samantha “Sam” Webster

Dr. Webster’s research resides at the intersection of mechanics, materials science, and machine design, where she uses fundamental knowledge of laser, metal AM technologies to push the boundaries of manufacturing and solve human-centered problems through fabrication of unique, functional designs. She earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Florida with minors in biomechanics and music performance, and her Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics focused on fundamental mechanics and formation of defects in laser directed energy deposition (DED-LB) at Northwestern University advised by Dr. Jian Cao. She was a National Research Council Postdoc at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) under the advisement of Dr. Carelyn Campbell, where she focused on hybrid metal AM techniques to address challenges such as defect formation and microstructure control. Throughout her research journey, Dr. Webster has designed custom manufacturing set-ups to study fundamental relationships through in-situ observations at multiple scales, including high-speed in-situ X-ray imaging. She has received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for her work, and she was named one of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ 30 under 30. 

Interests/Research Focus

• Metal additive manufacturing technologies
• Laser-based manufacturing processes
• In-situ monitoring of manufacturing processes
• Multi-material manufacturing