61 / 66
James Michael Rigsbee, FASM,
Life
Member, passed away on January 8
in Raleigh, N.C. He was born on De-
cember 6, 1947, in Durham, N.C.,
and attended Southern High School
there. He graduated from North Car-
olina State University (NCSU) in 1974
with a Ph.D. in metallurgical engi-
neering. Rigsbee completed a post doctorate at Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, worked for Republic
Steel in Cleveland, taught at University of Illinois at Urba-
na-Champaign, was department head at The University of
Alabama at Birmingham, and came back to NCSU in 1998
as department head and professor of materials science
and engineering. He was also an active and current mem-
ber of the
AM&P
Editorial Committee and a past member
of the International Reviews Committee.
Thomas Leo Kablach,
Life Member,
passed away on January 2 in Mur-
rieta, Calif. He was born on July 4,
1925, in Mt. Troy, Pa., and earned
a B.S. in metallurgical engineering
from Carnegie Tech in 1950. He en-
listed in the Army in April 1943 and
served as a Private First Class in the
Intelligence branch of the Army Air Corps. His career be-
gan at Mesta Machine Co. and included management
positions at Struthers Wells, Erie Forge, Pittron, Mee-
hanite, and Johnstown Steel. He served as director of
The Roll Manufacturing Institute and president of Tech-
mart Inc. He was chairman of ASM’s Calumet Chapter
and served on numerous committees. He also taught
metallurgical classes for ASM and consulted for a num-
ber of companies.
Stephen E. Chehi,
Life Member, of
Bethlehem, Pa., died on January
12 at age 90. He served in the U.S.
Army during World War II. In 1952,
he received a B.S. in industrial engi-
neering from the Pennsylvania State
University where he also worked as a
mechanical designer with the Navyʼs
Ordnance Research Laboratory. He then completed a 30-
year career with Bethlehem Steel Corp. During his tenure,
he was granted a U.S. patent for processing methods for
specialty metals and developed improved manufacturing
practices for NASAʼs Titan IIIC rocket motor hardware and
the Navyʼs deep submergence rescue vehicle pressure
hull. Chehi joined ASM in 1953.
HIGHL IGHTS
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
A D V A N C E D
M A T E R I A L S
&
P R O C E S S E S | F E B R U A R Y
2 0 1 5
ASM
NEWS
6 1
In Memoriam
Mathaudhu to Receive
Norm Augustine Award
Suveen
Mathaudhu,
assistant professor at Uni-
versity of California River-
side, will receive the Norm
Augustine Award for Out-
standing Achievement in
Engineering Communica-
tions from the American
Association of Engineer-
ing Societies on April 20.
Mathaudhu studies mech-
anisms that make metallic
materials and composites
lighter and stronger, but
he also has an interest in comics. This hobby led him to help
create a museum exhibit called Comic-Tanium, which has
traveled to San Diego, Washington, and Pittsburgh. Comic-Ta-
nium combines practical materials science with the fictional
worlds of comic book heroes. The exhibit is being enhanced
to include video and other modules that could be used by ele-
mentary school math and science teachers.
Berndt Awarded
Doctor of Engineering Degree
Christopher C. Berndt, FASM, TS-
HoF,
was awarded the Doctor of Engi-
neering (DEng) degree inDecember 2014
from Monash University, Melbourne,
Australia. This is the highest academic
degree that may be conferred by the
university and is awarded for work that
makes an original, substantial, and dis-
tinguished contribution to knowledge in a fieldwithwhich the
faculty is concerned. Berndt’s DEng thesis was titled “Thermal
Spray Coatings: Processing, Microstructural Architecture and
their Materials Engineering Design.”