I'm a Jedi Knight of Science — forever chasing the underlying mechanisms and theories that reveal how things really work, turning data and information into knowledge and understanding. That same curiosity fuels the leader in me: harnessing the power of high performance, empowering people to rise up, and channeling organizational processes in the pursuit of scientific knowledge and innovation. Join me on a journey through the galaxy of materials science, machine learning, and more!

🌐 Access the holocron: marktschopp.github.io — my full research archive, spanning publications, presentations, teaching, and the whole career arc across the galaxy.

From Tatooine to Beyond 🌎

• ✨ Education: With my lightsaber of knowledge, I have successfully defended my PhD dissertation at the Jedi Temple of Georgia Tech, earning the prestigious Best PhD Dissertation award akin to receiving a Jedi Council commendation.
• 📚 Publications: I've battled the dark side of scientific publishing with over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, akin to wielding a lightsaber against Sith Lords of ignorance.
• 🎙️ Presentations: Delivered over 250 talks and seminars, including 180+ invited presentations, captivating audiences like a Jedi Master using the Force.
• 📖 Citations: The Force is strong with my research, which has amassed over 9,000 citations, allowing me to wield an h-index of 51 like a Jedi Master's command over the Force.
• 🎓 Educator: I've trained over 3,000 ML Padawans across the DoD, guiding them through the Force-sensitive realm of machine learning with a Star Wars twist. Join the Rebel Alliance of knowledge and become a Jedi Knight of ML!
• 🚀 Leadership: Founded ARL Central, a new Rebel base in the Midwest, growing the researcher ranks from zero to 30+, and now lead the Army AI Innovation Institute, charting the strategy for AI at scale across the Army.
• ⚡ Transition: Successfully transitioned R&D projects to industrial implementation, bringing the power of the Force into real-world applications.
• 🏆 Recognition: I am honored to be recognized as a Fellow in ASM (Materials Society), ASME (Mechanical Engineering Society), and the esteemed Army Research Laboratory, akin to achieving Jedi Master status in the Order.
• 🌌 Diverse background: With experience spanning across industry, academia, and national laboratories, I've embraced the light side of science in various S&T positions, bringing balance to the Force.

Whether you're here to train or to dig into the research, here's what lives in the repos — with more coming out of the vault over time.

• LAMMPS Tutorials for Beginners — from your very first molecular dynamics simulation through grain boundaries, deformation, and fracture. Figures and data included, nothing hotlinked to a server that might vanish. (480+ ★ from learners across the galaxy.)
• Machine Learning for Everyone: May The Fourth Be With You! — my Star Wars–themed ML course that trained 3,000+ people across the DoD over six years. The algorithms are built in Excel first, so you can watch every weight and every calculation before writing a line of code.

This is where my research code lives — a corner I'm actively growing as I bring older projects out of the archive.

• Similarity Metrics — MATLAB and Python tools for quantifying how alike (or different) two datasets really are, from scalars to tensors. Born from my research on data-driven materials science.

📫 Looking to contact me? Explore the holocron, reach out through the Force at LinkedIn, or open an issue on any repo if you get stuck — I'd rather help you than let you wander off to the dark side.

💬 Feel free to send a hologram or engage in a lightsaber duel of ideas! Let's connect and discuss potential collaborations in the Jedi Council of Science Innovation.

May the Force be with you!