Jayden Grunde Joins the TIME Research Group as Ph.D. Student

Photo courtesy Jayden Grunde.

We are thrilled to welcome Jayden Grunde to the TIME Research Group as an incoming Ph.D. student! Jayden received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University in 2025, where he built a strong foundation in materials processing and mechanical behavior.

At TIME, Jayden will pursue doctoral research on the autonomous characterization and processing of power electronic materials under A Center for Power Electronics Materials and Manufacturing Exploration (APEX) — a DOE Basic Energy Sciences Energy Frontier Research Center focused on understanding and controlling the defect-mediated processes that govern performance and degradation in wide- and ultrawide-bandgap semiconductor systems. His work will sit at the intersection of electron microscopy, autonomous experimentation, and materials informatics, with the aim of deploying closed-loop, AI-driven workflows capable of probing and directing defect evolution in these technologically critical materials at a throughput and fidelity that conventional approaches cannot match.

In spite of the significant advances in power electronics over the past decade, the atomic-scale mechanisms underpinning device degradation remain incompletely understood — a gap that Jayden's research stands to close. We are excited to have him join the group and look forward to the contributions he will make to the APEX program and to the broader autonomous materials science mission of TIME!