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HIGHL IGHTS 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 | J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 4 3 CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT Erik Mueller, Ph.D. National Transportation Safety Board Dr. Erik Mueller is a materials research engineer at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington. He has performed over 100 failure investigations of aircraft, rail, pipeline, and marine transporta- tion accidents, including those involv- ing the GEnx engine fan midshaft, the Boeing 787 lithium-ion battery fires, train derailments in Casselton and Heimdal, North Dakota, and a pipeline leak in Centreville, Virginia. For his efforts on the latter case, Mueller earned the John K. Lauber Award, which recognizes employee accomplishments that contributed substantially to the mission of the NTSB. In addition, he earned the 2018 Silver Medal Award from ASM International and received the Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention 2018 Best Paper Award for his article entitled, “Investigation and Recom- mendations on Bottom-Dented Petroleum Pipelines.” Prior to joining the NTSB, Mueller worked as a materi- als engineer with NAVAIR at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, in Florida. There he performed over 100 failure investigations on various fixed-wing Navy aircraft, such as the F/A-18, P-3C, and EA-6B. In 2011, he received the NAVAIR Air Vehicle Engi- neering Director’s Award for his work on the failure analysis and nondestructive inspection of F/A-18D lower wing skin disbonding/delamination defects. Mueller served as an editor for the latest revisions of ASM Handbooks, Volume 3: Alloy Phase Diagrams and Vol- ume 10: Materials Characterization (December 2019). He is currently a member of ASM’s Women in Materials Engineer- ing Committee and serves on its retention subcommittee. Previously, he served on the board of directors for the Fail- ure Analysis Society and as a member of ASM’s Handbook, Nominating, and Emerging Professionals Committees. Mueller has volunteered at the ASM Eisenman Materials Camp each summer for the past six years, including serv- ing as camp coordinator in 2018. Funded by the ASM Mate- rials Education Foundation, the week-long summer camp teaches failure analysis to high school students along with blacksmithing, sand casting, and microscopy. Mueller has also served as the featured speaker at ASM Chapter meetings in Philadelphia and Washington, and he has given graduate seminars at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Michigan. He is a licensed professional engineer in Florida, Virginia, and the District of Columbia in the metallurgical and materials discipline. Mueller helps teach a professional engineering exam review course for TMS every summer and is involved in the Public and Government Affairs Committee for TMS. Previously, he worked with Engineers Without Borders (Jacksonville Professionals Chapter) performing service trips in Nebaj, Guatemala, where he helped design and employ water dis- tribution and septic systems in rural villages. Mueller earned his Ph.D., master’s, and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida. In graduate school, his research focused on characterization and modeling of high temperature corrosion of superalloys and model alloys coating systems in turbine engines. While earning his Ph.D., he also served as Albert the Alligator, the official mascot of the University of Florida. View the table of contents and abstracts for all the ASM Handbook volumes in ASM Handbooks Online in the ASM Digital Library. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer author or editor for ASM Handbooks, contact handbooks@ asminternational.org . WOMEN IN ENGINEERING This profile series introduces lead- ing materials scientists from around the world who happen to be females. Here we speak with Janet Gbur , research associate at Case Western Reserve Uni- versity, Cleveland, investigator at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Cleve- land, and adjunct faculty at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio. What does your typical workday look like? I wear a few different hats, so I do not have a typical workday. On the research side, I spend three days a week in Cleveland working with various principal investigators on developing test methods and testing components of microscale medical devices. Some days focus on research- ing standards, literature review, or learning about the appli- cation of a device. Other days are spent in the lab running fatigue tests or mentoring students with interest in the fatigue and fracture of Nitinol wires or other biomedical alloys. Two days a week are spent instructing at YSU. I teach two sections of engineering concepts for first-year students and one section of engineering materials. What part of your job do you like most? I enjoy the challenge of learning new things and having a connection to the end goal of the research. This is why I love working in an area that allows me to be a part of the development, testing, and final implementation of medical technology. To listen to a subject talk about how the implant makes a positive impact in daily life makes it all worth it. What is your greatest professional achievement? While I am thankful to have been honored with a few Mueller Gbur WOMEN IN ENGINEERING