Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2024
Professional Honors
  • Rackham Merit Fellowship, University of Michigan
  • Sigma Pi Sigma
  • Tau Beta Pi – chapter president
  • Pi Tau Sigma – chapter vice president
  • MMRI Graduate Student Poster Contest, 1st Place, November 2021
Professional Affiliations
  • The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) – member, conference presenter
  • Materials Research Society (MRS) – member
  • ASM International – member
  • Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) – member
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) – member
  • Society of Women Engineers (SWE) – member

Dr. Trombley is an expert in failure analysis and materials characterization of metals. Her research and testing experience is primarily in fatigue loading failures and the influence of material defects and residual stresses on the strength of materials. Dr. Trombley uses this knowledge to aid the Vehicle Practice group in cases assessing crashworthiness of vehicle structures.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Trombley was a Graduate Research Assistant in the Materials Science and Engineering department at the University of Michigan. Her work focused on identifying the mechanisms by which fatigue failure occurs in additively manufactured (3D printed) stainless steel. This work investigated how manufacturing processes influence the material properties in order for this knowledge to be implemented into computational models.

Dr. Trombley also has 5 years' automotive industry experience at Ford Motor Company, working in Vehicle Manufacturing as a Co-Op Engineer. She has participated in numerous vehicle production launches and completed an undergraduate thesis assessing the feasibility of joining dissimilar sheet metals in vehicle production through the use of single-sided mechanical joining technologies. This work assessed the material flowability and the amount of subsequent part distortion for numerous joints used in production today.

Dr. Trombley has additional automotive knowledge courtesy of multiple graduate level automotive engineering courses including Vehicle Body Structures, Vehicular Crash Dynamics and Accident Reconstruction, Vehicle System Dynamics, and Chassis System Design. Dr Trombley's combined academic and industry experience make her well-versed in the manufacture and performance of vehicle structures.