PhD student Payman Sharifi Abdar has successfully defended his dissertation research, "Mechanism and Modeling of Galvanic Corrosion between Mild Steel and Iron Sulfides in Acidic Solutions". Research within ICMT previously demonstrated that formation of different types of iron sulfides as corrosion products were a main culprit in localized attack, due to their wide-ranging physicochemical properties. Galvanic coupling between such iron sulfide layers and mild steel was suspected to be associated with the observed localized attack. The two types of iron sulfides investigated by Payman, pyrite and pyrrhotite, were shown to produce different galvanic corrosion due to their distinct electrochemical behaviors. To further elucidate the mechanism of the impact of iron sulfide type, the cathodic behavior of pyrite and pyrrhotite was systematically studied using a rotating disk electrode system. The results revealed that pyrrhotite has significantly higher cathodic current than pyrite. This difference originates from different cathodic reactions occurring at the surface of these iron sulfides. Manuscripts are in preparation relating to his findings. He has previously published in Electrochimica Acta and Analytical Methods. He has been a regular attendee at NACE and AMPP conferences, receiving 2^nd place in the Mars Fontana Category for his research poster at CORROSION 2021. Payman's PhD advisor was University Distinguished Professor, and ICMT Director, Srdjan Nesic. He recently started a post-doctoral researcher position in the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, with an electrocatalysis research focus.