Thursday, April 9, 2026
UNT's Andrey Voevodin earns R.F. Bunshah Award
As a professor of materials science and engineering, Andrey Voevodin’s research can be applied to multiple fields, but all of the projects have one thing in common.
“One of the benefits and beauty of materials science is that you can look at the different materials from different perspectives, but it all comes back to the basic fundamentals,” says Voevodin, who is also associate dean for research in the College of Engineering at The University of North Texas.
“What is the material’s chemistry, bond structure, bond strength and how will it respond to its operating conditions? The applications may change, but that core idea stays the same.”
With decades of research, professional leadership and student mentorship, he’s now being recognized by the AVS, an international society focused on materials, interfaces and processing. The R.F. Bunshah Award is a lifetime achievement award, and, as part of the award, he’ll be the honorary speaker at the 52nd International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films in April.
“I’m just very honored because so many prominent people in the field have received this award before and now, I can count myself among them,” says Voevodin. “I’ve been going to society meetings since 1994, and it’s been a very rewarding experience.”
Voevodin has been an active member with the society and has served as a board member, treasurer, conference chair, conference general chair and as a member of the various committees. To him, the most rewarding part of his involvement has been connecting with his colleagues through this work and at conferences and meetings.
“It’s a tightknit community where we enjoy sharing our knowledge with each other and with our students, too. We help them make connections at the conferences and share their resumes with each other and industry partners.”
Voevodin also encourages his students to speak at the conferences when they can.
“I have a talented Ph.D. student, Euan Cairns, graduated last year who presented at the conference, and then I introduced him to people from the industry there. Now, he works at Woodward in Fort Collins, and he’s coming back to speak this year to the same conference as a representative for the company.”
Currently, Voevodin advises one doctoral student and one master’s student while co-advising five more doctoral students.
“Seeing their success is the most rewarding part of my job. They first come in and don’t know their way around their lab and then you watch them grow and learn and become comfortable in a lab and also with presenting their research to others.”
Voevodin’s research focus is on coatings and thin films applied through a process called plasma assisted physical vapor deposition. The thin films materials can be used on all kinds of products, ranging from wear and friction reduction coatings, to functional layers in semiconductor devices, and to protective barrier coatings that can withstand high temperatures such as during space flight.
Due to the various applications for his work, Voevodin collaborates with multiple
professors at UNT, including members of the Center for Microelectronics in Extreme
Environments, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processing Institute and the Center
for Agile and Adaptive Additive Manufacturing. He says his driving force goes back
to how materials science is the basis for many research projects and guiding the next
generation researchers to apply the materials science.
“My research success and my students’ success is the same thing. I discuss the results with them and advise them, but they’re the ones in the lab doing the day-to-day operations,” says Voevodin. “Then when we go to conferences, we can see how our contribution fits in the big picture and know we’re moving the science in the right direction.”
From UNT News – Research: by Amanda Lyons