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Recipients: Fellow Class of 2004

The highest honor bestowed by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, the honorary class of Fellow was established in 1962; Charter Fellows were inducted in 1963. To be inducted, a candidate must be recognized as an eminent authority and contributor within the broad field of metallurgy, with a strong consideration of outstanding service to the Society. The maximum number of living Fellows cannot exceed 100.
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Michael Baskes

Citation: "For innovative research, choice of problems both for the scientific importance and career development of his many associates, attention to detail, the originality of thought, and clarity of presentations and generosity of ideas."

Biography: Michael Baskes is a technical staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Baskes earned a B.S. in engineering and Ph.D. in materials science from the California Institute of Technology in 1965 and 1970, respectively. He has authored over 165 journal publications, book chapters, and conference proceedings, which have been cited over 4,700 times.


Quote: ““I am extremely honored to receive the TMS Fellow Award. Being considered by my peers as one of the top 100 living materials scientists is indeed an immense distinction. I have always been proud to be a TMS member and am extremely encouraged with the improvement of the scientific content of the TMS meetings that has occurred in the last few years.”

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Ronald Gibala

Citation: "For seminal research on intermetallics; internal friction; interstitial solutes in metals, surface effects, on mechanical behavior; and excellence in service to the materials community."

Biography: Ronald Gibala is L.H. and F.E. Van Vlack Professor at the University of Michigan.

He received his Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1964. He was a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University from 1964–
1984, serving as the co-director and director of the Materials Research Laboratory from 1981–1984. He has been at the University of Michigan since 1984 and was the chair of the department of materials science & engineering from 1984–1994. He is currently the L.H. and F.E. Van Vlack Professor in the department and the director of the Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory. His research interests have included point defects and dislocations in solids; mechanical behavior of refractory metals, intermetallics, amorphous metals and oxides, and polymer blends; hydrogen in metals; oxidation; anelasticity; semiconductor heterostructures; and effects of surface films and interfaces on mechanical properties. He has authored approximately 170 publications on these topics. He has spent sabbaticals at the Center for Nuclear Studies in Grenoble, France; the National Science Foundation; Los Alamos National Laboratory; and Sandia National Laboratories. He is a fellow of ASM International and was president of the Materials Research Society in 1999.


Quote: “For seminal research on intermetallics, internal friction, interstitial solutes in metals, surface effects on mechanical behavior, and excellence in service to the materials community..”
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Tai-Gang Nieh

Citation: "For his important contributions to the understanding of the superplasticity behavior of metals and ceramics, including high strain rate superplasticity."

Biography: Tai-Gang Nieh earned a B.S. degree from Cheng-Kung University and an M.S. degree from the University of Washington, both in physics. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in materials science and engineering.

He is currently a senior science fellow in the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, responsible for initiating and conducting research programs sponsored by the U.S. government. He has a broad interest in materials research. In addition to superplasticity, he studied a wide variety of materials and subjects, including bulk metallic glasses, nanostructured materials, intermetallics, light-weight alloys, refractory metals, metal-matrix composites, multilayers, bioceramics, high-temperature properties, and material synthesis and processing. He has co-authored over 300 papers and a textbook Superplasticity in Metals and Ceramics. He also has co-edited and co-organized several major conferences and symposia.

Quote: “I am honored to accept the award. I joined TMS when I was a graduate student and never dreamed of becoming a fellow of this prestigious society. There are so many outstanding individuals in TMS who are more qualified to receive this award. God has been extremely gracious to me. I want to share this honor with my colleagues who had a fun time working with me in the past.”
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John Perepezko

Citation: "For seminal scholarly contribution to a fundamental understanding of structural synthesis during materials processing especially at the nucleation stage of reaction."

Biography: John Perepezko is the IBM-Bascom Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975. He held visiting appointments at the Universitat des Saarlandes, NIST, Technische Universitat- Berlin, DLRL-Koln and the Forschungsentrum-Karlsruhe, and an AGARD (NATO) Visiting Lectureship to ONERA (France). He served on a number of government review panels and advisory groups including chair of the NASA Materials Science Discipline Working Group, is a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Rapid Solidification and the International Journal of Powder Metallurgy and Intermetallics, and is a principal editor for Scripta Materialia.

Prof. Perepezko has seven U.S. patents for innovative materials synthesis and design. He has supervised 40 graduate students since 1975 and routinely mentors several undergraduates in laboratory projects and independent study activities. He serves as the faculty advisor for the ASM/TMS student chapter. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the TMS Bruce Chalmers Award, 1997.


Quote: “I feel deeply honored to receive the prestigious TMS Fellow award. It is especially gratifying to receive the peer recognition for my sustained work and to be included in the distinguished group who share this honor. I have regarded TMS as my main professional society and have encouraged students to be active in the society. TMS conferences have always provided the latest developments in metallurgy and the enjoyable opportunity to interact with colleagues.”
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Robert O. Ritchie

Citation: "For outstanding contributions to the understanding of mechanisms of fatigue and fracture of materials."

Biography: Robert Ritchie is professor of materials science in the department of materials science and engineering at the University of California in Berkeley. He is also senior materials scientist and head of structural materials in the materials science division of the associated Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a member of the University of California, San Francisco/University of California Berkeley bioengineering faculty. He received a B.A. in physics and metallurgy, an M.A. and Ph.D. in materials science and an Sc.D. all from Cambridge University. Dr. Ritchie is well known for his research in the fields of materials science, fracture mechanics, and fatigue-crack propagation, having authored or co-authored some 450 papers and edited 15 technical books. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering in the U.S. and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom. He has been the recipient of many awards and honors including: the TMS Champion H. Mathewson Gold Medal in 1985, and the TMS Structural Materials Distinguished Materials Scientist/Engineer Award in 1996. He is an Honorary Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture; a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, the Institute of Physics, and the American Society for Materials; a certified engineer in the United Kingdom, and an honorary visiting professor at the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom.

Quote: “I am both humbled and honored to join such an elite and distinguished group as a TMS Fellow. Recognition by one’s peers is the most sincere form of award, and I am especially honored that this is with TMS, the professional society that has always best represented my interests in the fields of materials science and engineering.”

The information on this page is maintained by Nellie Luther (natale@tms.org).

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