James Wait, a PhD candidate in the Physics Department and is working with Assistant
Professor of Physics Arzu Çolak, gave an oral presentation on the friction property of Ti 3 C 2 T x
MXene at the 2022 Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) in Tribology that was held in
conjunction with the Tribology Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in which he also
presented his work with a poster presentation.
James was grateful to receive financial support to attend these meetings from the Physics
Department, and the Graduate School as a prize for winning third place in Clarkson’s 3-
Minute-Thesis competition.
As a member of the Physics of Surfaces and Interfaces research group led by Dr. Arzu Çolak,
James’s research focuses on understanding the tribological properties of two-dimensional
transition metal carbides/nitrides, MXenes, with atomic force microscopy (AFM) at the
nanoscale, aiming at implementing these materials as solid lubricants for space applications.
