ACTA MATERIALIA INC. GOLD MEDAL

The Acta Materialia Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Board of Governors of Acta Materialia, Inc. with partial financial support from Elsevier, Ltd.  Nominees are solicited each year from the Cooperating Societies and Sponsoring Societies of Acta Materialia, Inc., based on demonstrated ability and leadership in materials research. The candidates are placed on a ballot for the selection committee (a panel of international judges who serve for three-year terms).  A preferential ballot is then conducted among the judges, and the candidate with the most points is the winner.  The Award consists of the gold medal, an inscribed certificate, and a check for a sum of money that constitutes the Board’s contribution to the award winner.

2009 winner
Past winners
Critieria

2009 winner

The winner of the 2009 Acta Materialia Gold Medal Award is Professor Y. Austin Chang of the University of Wisconsin (Madison).  He received his B.S. degree from University of California, Berkeley, and his M.S. degree from University of Washington, Seattle, both in Chemical Engineering. His Ph.D. in Metallurgy is from UC-Berkeley.  Professor Chang has been on the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1980.  He was appointed Professor in 1980, and Wisconsin Distinguished Professor (one of the first four) in 1988. Currently, as the Wisconsin Distinguished Professor Emeritus, he continues working with graduate students and participates in the departmental affairs.  He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (1996), Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2000), Fellow of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS, 1991), and Fellow of ASM International (ASM, 1978).

In his professional career, Professor Chang has been a researcher and an educator.  He has done research on thermodynamics of metal refining early in his career, followed by contributions in thermodynamic modeling/phase diagram calculations, as well as studies of scientifically interesting and technologically relevant structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of materials, in bulk or nanoscale form.

Among his honors/awards are the William Hume-Rothery Award (“in recognition of his outstanding scholarly contribution to the Science of Alloys”, TMS, 1989), the Extraction and Processing Lecturer Award (“for his work on the thermodynamics of metal refining”, TMS, 1993), the Albert Sauveur Achievement Award (“in recognition of pioneering achievements in materials science”, ASM, 1996), and the John Bardeen Award (“for seminal contribution to the understanding of metal/compound semiconductor interactions”, TMS, 2000).  Among his other recognitions are the Champion H. Mathewson Medal (TMS, 1996), the Edward D. Campbell Memorial Lecture (“Phase Diagram Calculation in Teaching, Research and Industry”, Met. Trans., 2006, 37A, 273-305, ASM, 2003), and the Best Paper Award (Alloy Phase Diagram International Commission( APDIC), 1999.

Professor Chang was a Visiting Scientist at the Sandia National Labs, CA (summer 1971), Visiting Professor at Tohoku University, Japan, (Fall 1987) and at MIT, Cambridge, MA (Fall 1990), a Summer Faculty member at the Quantum Structure Research Initiative Group, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA (1999), and an Honorary Chair Professor, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC. He has also served as chair and educator at two academic departments, at UW-Milwaukee and then at UW-Madison, for a total of 15 years. The recognitions he received include Outstanding Instructor Award (UW-Milwaukee, 1972), Educator Award (TMS, 1990), and Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher Award (ASM, 1994).  He served as a Trustee of ASM (1981-84), as the 2000 President of TMS, and as the National President of Alpha Sigma Mu (1984), a National Honor Student Society for students in materials sciences.  He was recently selected to serve as a Wisconsin Idea Fellow (in recognition of extraordinary public service on behalf of the University of Wisconsin to local communities, involving assistance, research and outreach to businesses and nonprofits, and impressive contributions to improving the quality of life and the economy of Wisconsin.

Professor Chang has authored and co-authored over 500 publications, including books, reviews, and non-scholarly papers for general information.  He is a highly cited materials research scientist (I S HighlyCited, 2003). He also holds 2 patents.

Prof. Chang will receive his Gold Medal award during the Spring meeting of TMS in February 2009 in San Francisco, CA.

Past winners

                                    2009                 Prof. Austin Chang

                                    2008                 Prof. Karl Gschneidner, Jr.

                                    2007                 Prof. Herbert Gleiter

                                    2006                 Prof. Subra Suresh

                                    2005                 Prof. George Smith

                                    2004                 Prof. Raymond Smallman

                                    2003                 Prof. Gareth Thomas

                                    2002                 Prof. Robert W. Cahn

                                    2001                 Dr. Chain-Tsuan Liu

                                    2000                 Prof. Anthony Kelly

                                    1999                 Prof. Jean Philibert

                                    1998                 Prof. Tsuyoshi Masumoto

                                    1997                 Prof. Peter Hirsch

                                    1996                 Prof. Vaclav Vitek

                                    1995                 Prof. Thaddeus B. Massalski

                                    1994                 Prof. Peter Haasen

                                    1993                 Prof. William D. Nix

                                    1992                 Prof. Jerome Cohen

                                    1991                 Dr. Jun Kondo

                                    1990                 Prof. James C. M. Li

                                    1989         *       Prof. John P. Hirth

                                    1987                 Prof. Robert W. Balluffi

                                    1986                 Prof. Michael Ashby

                                    1985                 Prof. Egor Orowan

                                    1984                 Prof. Jack Christian

                                    1983                 Prof. Jacques Friedel

                                    1982                 Prof. Charles Barrett

                                    1981                 Prof. Morris Cohen

                                    1980                 Prof. Johannes Weertman

                                    1979                 Prof. David Turnbull

                                    1978                 Prof. Mats Hillert

                                    1977                 Dr. John Cahn

                                    1976                 Prof. Alan Cottrell

                                    1975                 Prof. W. G. Burgers

                                    1974                 Prof. Bruce Chalmers

* In 1989 the nomenclature of the award was changed, so that each year’s award is identified with the year of presentation. In prior years the award was identified with the year in which the selection was made. As a result, there is no award identified with the year 1988.

Critieria

The Acta Materialia Gold Medal was established by the Board of Governors of Acta Materialia, Inc. in 1973 as an international award to recognize leadership in materials research. Acta Materialia, Inc. represents 33 professional societies worldwide in publishing two international journals and in other activities supporting the materials profession.

Qualifications for the award are as follows:

(1) Candidates may be proposed by Sponsoring or Cooperating Societies of Acta Materialia, Inc. and by the Editors of Acta Materialia and Scripta Materialia. Each may propose one candidate each year, from any country. They should provide adequate documentation to support the nomination, such as:

(a)       a brief personal history or biographical sketch

(b)       reasons supporting the nomination, e.g. major impacts of the nominee’s work

(c)       list of publications

Nominations remain in effect for four years unless withdrawn or re-endorsed.

(2) The criteria for nomination and selection are demonstrated ability and leadership in materials research. "Materials research" is interpreted primarily as those areas of research whose results would be suitable for publication in Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, or Acta Biomaterialia, although they need not actually have been published there. The principal focus is to honor a "great scientist", and the medal is not a "best paper published this year" type award. However, it is hoped that the award often will enhance the recognition of relatively recent and currently important work. To that end, the judges are asked to give special consideration to the qualifications of younger candidates every third year.

(3) Five judges are selected by the Board of Governors (one of these by the Editors) of Acta Materialia, Inc. and are themselves distinguished practitioners in materials research. Their term of office is normally three years, on a staggered schedule.

(4) The Gold Medal is awarded each year, unless the judges feel no candidate is qualified. The presentation is made at a meeting selected by the nominating Society or, if otherwise nominated, at a major technical meeting in the awardee's country.

(5) Nominations should be submitted by 31 December of each year to Thaddeus B. Massalski, Executive Secretary of Acta Materialia, Inc., Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Doherty Hall A308, Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890, U.S.A.

October 2008