Bio
Dr. Manley received his PhD in Materials Science from Caltech in 2001 and was awarded the 18th Louis Rosen Prize for his thesis. He was a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory for a little over a year before being promoted to staff scientist. During the 2005–2006 academic year, he was stationed at the University of California, Davis as part of a LANL/UC collaborative educational research program, serving as a Visiting Professor. He remained affiliated with UC Davis as an Adjunct Professor from 2006–2011. He moved to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2006, where he received a Science, Technology, and Engineering Award for his research on actinides, and then to his current position at Oak Ridge in 2012. He won the 2021 TMS FMD Distinguished Scientist Award for experimental research on thermophysical properties of materials at high temperatures and the discovery of intrinsic localized modes in anharmonic materials. He serves as Science Lead for the Center for Thermal Energy Transport under Irradiation and Co-PI on the BES-funded program Neutron Scattering Studies of Hybrid Excitations. From 2018–2024, he was Co-Scientific Director of the National School on Neutron & X-ray Scattering.
Research Interests:
Neutron and x-ray scattering, basic and applied problems in materials physics, relaxor ferroelectric behavior, thermoelectric material performance, nuclear materials, thermodynamic and mechanical properties, phase stability, electronic structure, thermal transport, shape memory effect, nonlinear lattice dynamical effects, disorder.
Support:
- BES FWP “Neutron Scattering Studies of Hybrid Excitations” Co-PI, 2018-present .
- BES EFRC “The Center for Thermal Energy Transport under Irradiation (TETI)” Science lead (https://teti.inl.gov/), 2018–present.
- BES FWP "Impact of Dynamic Instabilities and Local Structure on Energy Materials" Co-PI, 2012–2018.
- Vice Chair, “Physics and Chemistry of Materials” Committee, TMS 2013-2015
- NSF Grant DMR-0906491: "Dynamical Localization in High Temperature Crystals as Measured by Inelastic Neutron Scattering," Co-PI with Albert Sievers (Cornell), 2009–2014.
Professional Experience
2026-present Interim Group Leader, Neutron and X-ray Scattering Group
2012-present Senior Research Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2018-2024 Co-Scientific Director & Lecturer, National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering
2006-2012 Staff Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
2006-2011 Adjunct Professor, University of California, Davis, Materials Science
2005-2006 Visiting Professor, University of California, Davis, Materials Science
2005-2006 Materials Design Institute – Los Alamos employee stationed at the University of California, Davis as part of a LANL/UC collaborative educational research program.
2002-2006 Technical Staff Member, Los Alamos National Laboratory
2001-2002 Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory
1996-2001 California Institute of Technology, Graduate student – Ph.D. Thesis: “From elementary excitations to microstructures: The thermodynamics of metals and alloys across length scales”
1994-1996 Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Graduate student – M.S. Thesis: “Deformation in S1 and S2 ice under across column compression”
1993 UMass Lowell Summer Research supported by Spectra Inc., Hanover, NH, Undergraduate student – “Four point and biaxial flexure strength of PZT ceramics analyzed using a probabilistic approach”
Awards
2021 TMS FMD Distinguished Scientist Award
Citation: “For experimental research on thermophysical properties of materials at high temperatures, and the discovery of intrinsic localized modes in anharmonic materials”
2008, Science, Technology, and Engineering Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
2001, 18th Louis Rosen Prize, Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE)
2001, Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory
1996, Webster Clark Fellowship, California Institute of Technology
1994, Kun Min Award for Excellence in Thermal Fluid Sciences, UMass Lowell
Education
- Director-Funded Postdoctoral Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2001-2002.
- PhD, Material Science, California Institute of Technology, 2001.
- MS, Material Science, California Institute of Technology, 1998.
- MS, Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, 1996.
- BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 1994.
Educational Activities:
Graduate level courses and leadership:
- National School on Neutron & X-ray Scattering (a highly competitive school aimed at educating top graduate students from universities in the US, Canada, and Mexico in the use of major neutron and x-ray facilities): Co-Director as well as Lecturer on Practical Experimental Considerations and beamtime Proposal Writing (ORNL, 2018-2024).
- LANSCE 2008 Neutron School: Inelastic Neutron Scattering Hands-on Exercises (LANL, 2008).
- Fracture Mechanics (UC Davis, 2005).
Undergraduate level courses:
- Mechanical Properties Lab (UC Davis, 2007).
- Materials Failure Analysis, Lectures and Lab (UC Davis, 2006).
- Circuit Theory (UNM, Los Alamos, 2003).
Professional Service
- Co-Scientific Director, National School on Neutron & X-ray Scattering, 2018-2024
- Organizer, “Neutron and X-ray Scattering in Materials Science and Engineering”, 2025 TMS Annual Meeting
- Organizer, “Neutron and X-ray Scattering in Materials Science”, 2023 TMS Annual Meeting
- Division Director Search Committee, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2022-2023.
- Organizer, “Thermal transport in crystalline and non-crystalline solids”, 2020 TMS Annual Meeting
- Chair, “Physics and Chemistry of Materials” Committee, TMS 2016-2018
- Organizer, “Hume-Rothery Award Symposium in honor of B. Fultz”, 2016 TMS Annual Meeting
- Vice Chair, “Physics and Chemistry of Materials” Committee, TMS 2013-2015
- Organizer, “Frustrated Ferroic Materials”, 2015 TMS Annual Meeting
- Science Review Committee, Oak Ridge Natl. Lab. Neutron Scattering Science Division, 2010-2012
- Selection committee for the Louis Rosen Prize, 2008
- Organizer, “Fundamentals of Shape Memory and Related Transitions” at the 2007 TMS Annual Meeting
- LANSCE Materials Program Advisory Committee (beamtime proposal evaluations), 2003-2010
- Elected, user group executive committee, LANSCE, 2000 (1 year)