Dr. Hefferan brought his expertise to RJ Lee Group in 2012. He has expertise in root cause failure analysis on materials including metals, polymers, composites, and ceramics. He is proficient in conducting materials characterization studies using microscopy based techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction microscopy (EBSD) for commercial projects that include industrial quality control and exploratory characterization. He designs and conducts experimental test programs to assess product performance and life cycle. Dr. Hefferan has expertise in the development of custom software for data mining and analysis of large scale, complex, multivariate data sets. He has expertise in the design and implement custom image analysis software for automated evaluations of microscopy related datasets for commercial, litigation, and government clients. He investigates three dimensional microstructural responses to annealing in high purity metals (nickel, aluminum) with emphasis on the evolution of texture, grain topology, and grain boundary character. Dr. Hefferan assists in the development of a multi‐user experimental environment at the Advance Photon Source 1‐ID beam line, including the design and characterization of high-energy X-ray diffraction (HEDM) hardware components and creation of scripts for automation of data acquisition.