EM Academy

Matt Nowell is the EBSD Product Manager at EDAX and has a passion for EBSD and microstructural characterization. Matt joined TexSEM Labs (TSL) upon graduation from the University of Utah in 1995 with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. At TSL, he was part of the team that pioneered the development and commercialization of EBSD and OIM. After EDAX acquired TSL in 1999, he joined the applications group to help continue to develop EBSD as a technique, and integrate structural information with chemical information collected using EDS. Within EDAX, Matt has held several roles, including product management, business development, customer and technical support, engineering, and applications support and development. Matt has published over 70 papers in a variety of application areas. He greatly enjoys the opportunity to interact with scientists, engineers, and microscopists to help expand the role that EBSD plays in materials characterization. In his spare time, Matt enjoys playing golf and pondering if changing the texture of his clubs will affect his final score.

René has been working as an applications specialist for EBSD and later also EDS at the EDAX European support office in Tilburg, The Netherlands, since 2001. His focus is on instrument demonstrations, conference and workshop presentations, and after-sales customer support. This includes (on-site) training courses, assistance with analytical problems, and scientific collaborations. Although focused on Europe, his work has brought him to customers and conferences all over the world. This international travel is a great bonus for his hobby, geocaching, where he tries logging at least one cache in every city visited. As he has always been fascinated by the physical world around him, René has chosen to study geology at Utrecht University with a specialization in materials science from a geological perspective. René’s first introduction to electron microscopy and microanalysis came during his undergraduate thesis on deformation and pressure indicators in natural fault rocks from New Zealand, which involved a significant amount of SEM and TEM work. Later during his Ph.D. thesis on nanometer-scale melt structures in upper mantle rocks, he also learned about high-resolution TEM imaging and EDS analysis. Around this time, he also started using EBSD on a system without any automation. Rene’s background in geology gives him a slightly different view on materials research, which has proven invaluable over the years at EDAX. In geology, one must often look at a material without any prior knowledge of how it was formed. Applying this view to man-made materials can be a great help in explaining unexpected test results or material failures that customers need to understand.

Shawn Wallace joined EDAX in 2015 as an Applications Engineer specializing in EBSD. He has a strong background in all sorts of instrumentations including EBSD, electron microprobe, all sorts of mass spectrometry, and computed tomography. In his career, he has taught researchers of all levels, from post docs to undergrads, how to use instrumentation and he continues that here at EDAX. Shawn earned his MS in Geology from the University of South Carolina. His research focused on method development for ICP-Mass spectrometry and geothermobarometry to help better understand planetary differentiation. After earning his degree, Shawn worked as a Scientific Assistant at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where he helped study the origin of the Solar System using EBSD and other instruments, including 3D work with computed tomography. Shawn hopes to bring those 3D skills to the rapidly expanding 3D EBSD world. When Shawn is not busy running samples, he can often be found in nature, either hiking or fishing or just staring at rocks.