Dr. Nicholas Rodriguez is a staff scientist and process engineer working in the Polymer Enclave contributing to research in advanced metrology and on-machine inspection for Direct Ink Writing. He joined LLNL in 2015 as a post collegiate appointee investigating high-viscosity elastomeric DLP printing and continued that collaboration with LLNL while completing his PhD at UT Austin in 2022. He also has 9 years of experience in process development at LLNL for DLP printing including building a small-scale (2” build dimension) and large-scale (16” build dimension) high viscosity paste DLP printers. These printers have successfully printed complex 3D structures out of multi-material reinforced silicones and various pre-ceramic resins. He has been awarded two patents for technologies that overcome challenges specific to printing highly viscous photopolymers. His current research interests include design for AM, in situ process monitoring, and precision metrology for machine health, AM, and subtractive manufacturing.

In his free time, Nicholas likes to make hand-stitched leather goods and has an increasing number of designs including bags, shoes, and a spiked coyote vest for his dachshund, Tennessee.

    i.   Song, H, Rodriguez, N.; Oakdale, J.; Duoss, E.B.; Seepersad, C.; Crawford, R.H. (2024). Additive Manufacturing of Tough Silicone Via Large-Scale, High-Viscosity Vat Photopolymerization. J. Manuf. Sci. Eng. 146(11): 111001.

   ii.    Rodriguez, N.; Song, H.; Chen, M.; Oakdale, J.; Duoss, E.B.; Seepersad, C.; Crawford, R.H. (2022). Use of Wire Grid Polarizers with Liquid Crystal Display for Large-Volume Stereolithography. Additive Manufacturing. 52. 102641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2022.102641

  iii.    Rodriguez, N.; Ruelas, S.; Forien, J. B.; Dudukovic, N.; DeOtte, J.; Rodriguez, J.; Moran, B.; Lewicki, J. P.; Duoss, E. B.; Oakdale, J. S. (2021). 3D Printing of High Viscosity Reinforced Silicone Elastomers. Polymers, 13(14), 2239. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13142239

  iv.    Troksa, A.; Eshelman, H.V.; Chandrasekaran, S.; Rodriguez, N.; Ruelas, S.; Duoss, E.B.; Kelly, J.P.; Cerón, M.R.; Campbell, P.G. (2021). 3D-printed nanoporous ceramics: Tunable feedstock for direct ink write and projection microstereolithography. Materials & Design, 198, 109337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2020.109337

   v.   Zheng, X.; Smith, W.; Jackson, J.; Moran, B.; Cui, H.; Chen, D.; Ye, J.; Fang, N.; Rodriguez, N.; Weisgraber, T.; Spadaccini, C. M. (2016). Multiscale metallic metamaterials. Nature materials, 15(10), 1100–1106. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4694

  vi.    Song, H.; Rodriguez, N.; Seepersad, C.; Crawford, R.H.; Chen, M.; & Duoss, E.B. (2021). Development of a variable tensioning system to reduce separation force in large scale stereolithography. Additive manufacturing, 38, 101816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2020.101816

 vii.    Valdez, S.; Rodriguez, N.; Seepersad, C. (2022) Latent Variable Representations for Interactive Structural Design Exploration. Proceedings of the ASME 2022 - IDETC/CIE2022. August 14-17, 2022, St. Louis, Missouri. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2022-91076

·         Director S&T Excellence in Publication, 2023 for “Use of Wire Grid Polarizers with Liquid Crystal Display for Large-Volume Stereolithography”

·         Leigh Family Endowed Graduate Fellowship, 2021 – to advance graduate education in sustainable systems, advanced manufacturing, and mechanical engineering