Lianyi Chen partners with metal additive manufacturing operations and the equipment makers supplying them to solve the defect and reliability problems that keep printed metal parts out of critical, load-bearing use. His lab uses high-speed synchrotron X-ray and neutron imaging to watch melt pools form and fail in real time, translating that visibility into process windows, in-line monitoring methods, and quality control manufacturers can run on their own machines — including early work with dynamic beam-shaping lasers. He also develops metal-matrix composites and nanoparticle-functionalized powders that stabilize the melt pool and lift final-part strength.