Carl and Carolyn Koch Lecture Series
This lecture series was created in 2022 to showcase excellence in the education, outreach, and research of metallic materials. Delivering the inaugural Koch Lecture on November 4, 2022, in Engineering Building 1, Dr. Carl Koch presented the talk “From Metallurgical Engineering to Materials Science and Engineering: Lifelong Learning in a Changing Profession.” Koch’s talk described how materials science and engineering discipline has evolved. He discussed the influence of materials on civilizations and shared his career as an example of the need for lifelong learning as an engineer.
Prof. Koch received his Ph.D. in metallurgy from the Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1964, and later a post-doctoral NSF Fellow at Birmingham University, UK until 1965. He joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a staff scientist in 1965. He was the group leader of the superconducting materials, and later, the alloying behavior and design group before he joined NC State University Department of Materials Science and Engineering as a professor in 1983. Named Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, he has made significant contributions to the understanding of mechanical alloying for preparing amorphous and nanostructured alloys. His research studies high entropy alloys, and he has published over 360 papers and edited seven books. He has achieved the rank of Fellow in five professional societies, including Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, (membership limited to 100 living Fellows), Materials Research Society, American Physical Society, ASM International, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was elected into the US National Academy of Engineering in 2013.
Upcoming
Past Presenters
Enrique Lavernia
Texas A&M University
November 1, 2024
“Strong and Ductile High-Entropy Alloys for Cryogenic to Elevated Temperature Applications”
Dr. Enrique J. Lavernia, currently Professor and holder of the M. Katherine Banks Chair Department of Materials Science and Engineering and J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas. Formerly Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Samueli School of Engineering, and the former Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for the University of California, Irvine from 2015 to 2020. He was previously engineering dean (2002-2008, and 2010-2015) at UC Davis and Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. He also served as UC Davis’ provost and executive vice chancellor for two years (2008-2010).
In 2024 he received the Bruce Chalmers award from TMS and in 2022 Dr. Lavernia was recognized with ASM International, Albert Sauveur Achievement Award “for sustained and pioneering studies on the fundamental mechanisms that govern the interrelationship between processing, microstructure and mechanical behavior of structural materials.” He was elected as a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2020. He also received the Acta Materialia Gold Medal in 2020. In 2019 Dr. Lavernia was awarded a Doctor of Science in Technology, honoris causa, by Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. In 2018, he received the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from the National Engineers’ Council, and in 2017, he became a member of the National Academy of Inventors.
Dr. Lavernia was elected to become a National Academy of Inventors Fellow in November 2016. Also in 2016, he received the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award as well as the Leadership Award from the TMS Society. In 2015 he was inducted into the Hispanic Hall of Fame by the HEENAC Great Minds in STEM. In 2014 he was awarded the TMS Fellows Award Class of 2014 by the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.
Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2013, Dr. Lavernia is also a fellow of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, the Materials Research Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and ASM International. He is the recipient of the 2013 Edward DeMille Campbell Memorial Lectureship and the 2013 ASM International Gold Medal Award. Named Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Lavernia also received a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research. In 2011 he received the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science Distinguished Scientist Award.
Dr. Lavernia has published over 680 journal papers, 231 conference papers, 2 books, 11 edited books/journals, and 21 book chapters and has been awarded 11 patents on topics ranging from nano-materials to aluminum alloys. His research interests include the synthesis and behavior of nanostructured, high entropy and multi-scale materials with particular emphasis on processing fundamentals and physical behavior; high temperature-high pressure atomization processes; and additive manufacturing. He earned his B.Sc. from Brown University in 1982, and his MSc. and Ph.D. degrees in 1984 and 1986, respectively from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Alan Taub
University of Michigan
Presented October 20, 2023
“Elucidating the Formation Mechanisms and Resulting Microstructures of In Situ Al-TiC Nanocomposites”
Robert H. Lurie Professor of Engineering Alan Taub joined the faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2012 to conduct research in advanced materials and processing. He was appointed Director of the new University of Michigan Electric Vehicle Center and founded and served as the first Director of the Michigan Materials Research Institute. He supports the manufacturing innovation institute Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow. Taub retired from General Motors in 2012. Prior to retirement, he was VP of Global Research & Development. Taub advises startups, is the technical advisor for Auto Tech Ventures, and serves on committees for Bocar and Master Fluid Solutions.
Before joining GM, Taub spent 15 years in R&D at General Electric (GE), where he earned 25 patents. Prior to GE, he worked at Ford Motor Company for eight years. He has authored more than 80 papers. Taub received his B.S. in materials engineering from Brown University and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics from Harvard University.
Taub was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and served in 2016 and 2019. He became a TMS Fellow in 2018, and an SME Fellow in 2019. He served as the Chair of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and advisory boards for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of California Davis and Berkeley. Taub received the 2020 TMS Application to Practice Award and the 2011 Acta Materialia Materials & Society Award. In 2010, ASM International’s Rocky Mountain Chapter awarded Taub the Charles S. Barrett Medal. In 2007, he was invited to give the TMS-50th Anniversary Laureate Lecture. He received the 2004 Materials Research Society’s Special Recognition Award and the 2002 Woody White Service Award. Brown University awarded Taub the Engineering Alumni Medal in 2002.