Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, 2021
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, 2017
Professional Honors
  • Recipient, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies User Proposal, 2019-2020
  • Special Commendation for Outstanding Poster, TMS Bladesmithing Competition, 2019
  • Virginia and Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Fellowship, 2017-2021
Professional Affiliations
  • The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS)

Dr. Brady specializes in mechanical engineering with a focus on mechanical behavior of materials and materials characterization. She has expertise in mechanical testing, failure analysis, and data analysis. 

Dr. Brady has extensive experience in mechanical property testing and microstructural characterization techniques including high-temperature tensile testing, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and high resolution EBSD (HR-EBSD). Dr. Brady also has hands-on experience with machine shop tools such as drill presses, lathes, milling machines, and shearing machines; heat treatment of steel using salt pots and box furnaces; and various software applications and programming languages including SolidWorks, MATLAB, R, and Python.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Brady completed her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Her doctoral work focused on the mechanical behavior and microstructure evolution in unalloyed niobium. Specifically, her work established the first mechanistic explanation with supporting microstructural data for how impurity content affects high-temperature strength in refractory metals. Dr. Brady developed and successfully implemented two new microstructural characterization techniques: one that allows HR-EBSD analysis on heavily deformed materials using open-source software, and one that segments substructure in deformed materials. During her time at UT Austin, Dr. Brady also served as mentor for the Research Experience for Teachers program where she trained high school teachers to use advanced laboratory equipment and helped develop lessons to engage high school girls in engineering.