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I
t is my great pleasure to introduce ASM Inter-
national’s new president, Professor Sunniva R.
Collins, FASM. Sunniva and I have known each
other for more than 20 years through our involve-
ment in the ASM Cleveland Chapter. I have also
enjoyed working with her on ASM’s national activ-
ities. We developed the nomination for ASMHead-
quarters as an ASMHistoric Landmark, awarded in
2009, and we both served as ASM Trustees in 2010
and 2011. Sunniva has been a great supporter of
the new ASM Women in Materials Engineering
Committee and helped us kick off a wonderful in-
augural breakfast event at MS&T 2014.
Backgroundandcareer
Sunniva was born and raised in Cleveland.
Her mother was a journalist and newspaper re-
porter, and her father, a Norwegian sea captain,
was the superintendent for the Port of Cleveland,
just after the opening of the Saint Lawrence Sea-
way brought oceangoing vessels to the Great
Lakes for the first time. She is the middle of three
children and remembers field trips to ASM to see
the fantastic Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome,
the largest structure of its kind. Always academ-
ically inclined, she earned a scholarship to the
University of Michigan, where she studied me-
chanical engineering and English. After university,
she made an extended visit to Norway to visit her
father’s side of the family.
Upon graduation, Sunniva worked as a tech-
nical editor for the American Society for Metals,
editing articles for ASM Handbooks and develop-
ing manuscripts for technical monographs. After a
few years, she was ready for a new challenge and
began pursuing a graduate degree in materials
science and engineering at Case Western Reserve
University (CWRU).
At Case, Sunniva studied under Professor
Gary Michal, working on steel metallurgy projects
for her thesis and dissertation, studying inclu-
sions in steel and their effects on fatigue proper-
ties. Graduate school was a lot of fun as well, as
she learned to brew beer so she could bring it
to the department happy hours (a long-stand-
ing Friday tradition), and participated in student
government and a soccer team in the local co-ed
league. Sunniva started attending ASM confer-
2014-2015 President of ASM International
SunnivaR. Collins
Diana Essock, FASM, Metamark Inc., Moreland Hills, Ohio
Sunniva’s constant compass has
always been her interest in materials
technology and what it can do to make
the world better. ASM has been integral
to her career, from her first job on the
publications staff, through graduate
school, and throughout her experiences
at Swagelok and Case. Her vision for
ASM stems from its vital networking
function: ASM serves a critical role
in the technology-based economy
as a connector of people, ideas, and
information. As ASM president, Sunniva’s
priorities are to build on the strategic
plan, creating better connections and
synergies among key initiatives, as she
discusses here.
Content is Everything Material
ASM is widely recognized as a fair
broker of reliable technical
information about materials. ASM
should position itself as the source
and repository for technical
information on many emerging
trends, including materials for fuel
cells, hydrogen storage materials,
green processes, and reduction
of hazardous substances (RoHS), to
name a few. Additionally, we need to
protect and preserve our core content
through review and revision to keep
the information current and timely,
and better understand how we
generate and capture materials
content.
Partnerships are synergistic
relationships where both parties
benefit.
For ASM, strategic partnerships
can be a source of materials content
generated by a related discipline,
as well as newmembers who need
materials information, but for whom
materials are not the main focus of
their job. A smart strategy developed
around partnerships could have
significant influence on all of ASM’s
initiatives.
Vision forASM
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