This award is established to honor William D. Nix and the tremendous legacy that he has developed and shared with the minerals, metals, and materials community, and to highlight and promote continued progress and innovation relevant to research into the underlying mechanisms and mechanical behavior of macro-, micro-, and nanoscale materials.
William D. Nix’s research and seminal contributions to structural materials, thin films, and nanoscale plasticity have had significant impact on critical U.S. industries, spawned new fields of study, and motivated generations of researchers working in fields that span from aerospace to microelectronics. Breakthroughs in technologies for these critical industries depend heavily on the availability of advanced materials that can be engineered and optimized at the nanoscale. Nix’s groundbreaking contributions to our ability to characterize, understand, and predict the mechanical behavior and reliability of such materials have been critical enablers of these key technologies.
The award recipient will receive a cash prize of $5,000 along with a certificate and medal at the TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition. The recipient must also prepare an abstract and present a lecture at the same meeting. The first recipient will be awarded in 2020.
The William D. Nix Award was endowed and fully funded by his Ph.D. students in recognition of the tremendously positive influence that he has had on their lives.
The selection criteria and methodology will be based on established TMS society awards through the Hardy, Practice, Smith and Sherby, Subcommittee bylaws.
Criteria
The annual award will be open and available to members and non-members who have an established record of research, publications, and/or patents in the field of mechanical behavior of materials.
Nominees must have an established record of research, publications and/or patents in the field of mechanical behavior of materials, and work must have had, or be likely to have, a significant and lasting impact on our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and/or attendant mechanical behavior of macro-, micro- and nanoscale materials.
How to Nominate
Submission Deadline:
April 1 of each year.
Note: Lectureship awards are considered two years in advance of the presentation year.
Please submit the following documents to complete the nomination process:
- Completed nomination form.
- Nominator's Supporting Statement: This statement is to be included within the principal nominator’s cover letter of endorsement. The supporting statement should outline the qualifications of the nominee for the specific honor/award. The nominator’s supporting letter should be no more than two pages.
- Current resume or curriculum vitae, no more than 5 pages.
- A minimum of two, maximum of five, letters of endorsement are required. Each letter should be no longer than one page. No more than one letter of endorsement may be from the same affiliation as the nominee. The nominator’s letter may be counted in the total number required.
Send complete nomination packet to TMS Awards.