All-Congress Plenary Speakers
Several prestigious invited presenters will deliver lectures during the TMS Specialty Congress 2025. Don’t miss these presentations and learn more from these influential leaders in their fields.
Zi-Kui Liu
The Pennsylvania State University
Presentation Title: Zentropy and Zentropy-Enhanced Neural Networks (ZENN) for Materials
Bio
Zi-Kui Liu is the Dorothy Pate Enright Professor in the Department of Materials at The Pennsylvania State University. He received a bachelor's degree from Central South University (China), a master's degree from the University of Science and Technology Beijing (China), and his doctorate from the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology (Sweden). He worked at the Royal Institute of Technology, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and QuesTek Innovation before joining The Pennsylvania State University in 1999. Liu has been the editor-in-chief of the CALPHAD journal since 2000 and coined the term "Materials Genome" in 2002. He was the leading author of the textbook Computational Thermodynamics of Materials and edited two-volume reference books titled Zentropy. Liu is a Fellow of ASM International and TMS and served as the 100th President of ASM International and was on the board of TMS and ASM International.
Jörg Neugebauer
Director, Computational Materials Design, Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials
Presentation Title: Harnessing Interoperable Digital Workflows for Materials Design
Bio
Jörg Neugebauer is Director and Executive at the Max-Planck-Institute for Sustainable Materials GmbH in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he heads the Computational Materials Design department. His research areas include electronic structure methods, statistical physics and thermodynamics, computational materials science, theoretical solid state physics, optoelectronics, electrochemistry, machine learning, and digital workflows. He is scientific member of the Max Planck Society, elected member of the Academy of Sciences and Art in North Rhine-Westphalia, Professor at the University of Paderborn, Honorary Professor at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Materials Simulations (ICAMS), and was recently awarded the ISMM Distinguished Career Award, which recognizes an individual who has advanced the field of materials modeling through innovative, career-long research contributions. He is authored or co-authored 25 books, book chapters and conference proceedings and over 400 scientific papers in academic journals, such as Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Phys. Rev. Lett., Appl. Phys. Lett., Acta Mater. and others.
David Rowenhorst
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Presentation Title: Leveraging 3D Characterization for Model Development and Validation of Structural Alloys and Advanced Processing
Bio
David Rowenhorst is the head of the Metallurgical Alloy Design Section at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). He joined NRL in 2004 as NRC Postdoctoral Associate after he received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University where he studied 3D microstructural characterization methods to analyze particle coarsening in Pb-Sn systems in microgravity environments. He continued on at NRL as a staff scientist in the Phase Transformations and Joining Section where he was one of the first to integrate EBSD methods into 3D analysis of materials. His work continues to concentrate on advanced characterization and analysis of microstructures, especially within an Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) framework, including 3D characterization of grain growth in polycrystalline materials, phase transformations in high strength steels, the 3D microstructures associated with additive manufacturing, and new automation methods for serial sectioning and high-throughput microscopy.
Keynote Speakers
Each of the co-located meetings at TMS Specialty Congress 2025 will feature a keynote speaker. Learn more about these presenters below.
ICME 2025 Keynote
Bryce Wilcox
Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Milwaukee Tool
Presentation Title: Shaping the Future Workforce: Navigating Digital Transformation in Engineering
Bio
Bryce Wilcox holds a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical and materials engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a master’s in engineering data analytics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Milwaukee Tool, Wilcox has been a leading force in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into the materials engineering domain since 2017. With a strong foundation in emerging materials technologies and computational engineering, Wilcox brings a unique interdisciplinary approach to Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). His work focuses on advancing the fusion of data science and materials engineering to drive innovation.
In addition, explore the invited speakers for ICME 2025 here.
3DMS 2025 Keynote
Vikram Deshpande
Professor of Materials Engineering, University of Cambridge
Presentation Title: 3D X-Ray Observations Provide Striking Findings in Rubber Elasticity
Bio
Vikram Deshpande is a professor of Materials Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He has also served on the faculties at the University of California, Santa Barbara and at the Technical University of Eindhoven. With his students and collaborators, he has worked primarily in experimental and theoretical mechanics of materials. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals including Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids and Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering. His recognitions include the 2020 Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics, the 2022 Prager Medal, the 2022 ASME Koiter medal and the 2024 ASCE Bazant medal. He has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society, London, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, and an International Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
In addition, explore the invited speakers for 3DMS 2025 here.
MPMD ICME Industry Implementation Award
This TMS award recognizes the significant achievements that industry has made to implement ICME methods into a manufacturing process and/or design of a new material. It is awarded every two years in conjunction with the ICME World Congress. Award recipients will be honored in-person with the award at the congress. This award is intended to honor a company, not a specific individual. Learn more about the specific criteria for this award and submit an application here.
Randy Beals
Magna International
Accepting on Behalf of Magna International
Presentation Title: ICME-Driven Development of Magna Aural 5M and Sustainable Aural 5R Aluminum Alloys for Structural Automotive Applications
Throughout his nearly 30-year career, Randy Beals has significantly advanced the light metals industry through his extensive technical expertise and leadership. His diverse experience spans roles in automotive OEMs (Ford, Chrysler), suppliers (American Racing, Magna), aerospace (Wellman Dynamics), and military foundries (Materion), alongside global exposure to non-ferrous foundries. At Magna International, he contributes to the global production development team for high-pressure vacuum die casting foundries, serving multiple OEMs. An active participant in TMS and MS&T conferences since his undergraduate days, Beals has held key positions including 2025 TMS LMD Chair and TMS Board of Directors. Beals has been the inventor of multiple Patents and has been the author and/or co-author of more than 20 published articles. Beals holds a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Michigan State University.