Rate My Professor Yaiza Gonzalez-Garcia

Yaiza Gonzalez-Garcia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering within the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Delft University of Technology. She leads the Localized Corrosion and Electrochemistry team and serves as the Coordinator and Director of Studies for the Master of Materials Science and Engineering program. Gonzalez-Garcia earned her MSc in Chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of La Laguna, Spain, in 2003, followed by a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the same university in October 2007. Her doctoral research centered on the novel application of microelectrochemical methods to study the degradation of coated metals. Post-PhD, she undertook post-doctoral research at Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany, as part of the national project “Function by switching” (SFB677), and was awarded a Humboldt Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship for investigating the early stages of polyurethane degradation at the nanoscopic level using in situ techniques. In 2010, she joined TU Delft's Corrosion Technology and Electrochemistry group as a post-doc, focusing on the local microelectrochemical evaluation of self-healing coatings under the IOP-Self Healing Materials framework. Subsequently, she contributed to the SURF-group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, simulating microelectrochemical measurements for corrosion studies within the NANOMET project. In July 2014, she received a Delft Technology Fellowship grant, leading to her tenure-track appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Her research interests encompass electrochemistry and micro-electrochemistry, particularly the correlation between metal microstructures and corrosion properties, and the microelectrochemical characterization of materials for applications in energy storage, art heritage, and biomaterials. She utilizes high-resolution electrochemical methods based on micro- and nano-sensors, including SECM, SVET, SIET, SKPFM, and the microcapillary cell, to visualize and monitor in-situ processes such as corrosion, dissolution, deposition, and catalysis. Gonzalez-Garcia is also a member of the Board of Administrators of the European Federation of Corrosion (EFC). Among her key publications are "Development of a data-driven framework for monitoring corrosion under droplets" (Corrosion Science, 2026), "From electrostatics to electrochemistry: rethinking volta potential in nowadays and future in-situ kelvin probe studies" (Electrochimica Acta, 2026), "Corrosion and environmental sensor response delays during monitored multi-droplet wetting: Unraveling time lags in atmospheric corrosion" (Corrosion Science, 2025), "Effect of minor addition of Zn on precipitate crystal structures and intergranular corrosion in 6082 Al-Mg-Si alloys" (Corrosion Science, 2025), and "Intergranular corrosion of TiNb-microalloyed martensitic stainless steels processed by quenching and partitioning" (Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 2025). With 87 research outputs, her contributions have advanced the understanding of localized corrosion mechanisms and materials durability in various fields.