Feb/March_AMP_Digital

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 | F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 1 4 1 GEORGE DIETER REMEMBERED “I am deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. George Dieter. I only met George in person a few times at gatherings of the A. James Clark College of Engineering of the Univer- sity of Maryland (UMD). I joined UMD in July 2019 as chair of the MSE department and had chatted with George about meeting for lunches, which did not occur due to COVID-19. It is regrettable that I did not get more chances to learn about academic leadership from him. At my suggestion, which was strongly supported by the chair of the UMD mechan- ical engineering (ME) department, Professor Balakumar Balachandran, the UMD Clark School of Engineering has established a George Dieter Endowed Distinguished Lecture Series in Mechanics and Materials.” – Ji-Cheng (JC) Zhao, FASM, University of Maryland, ASM trustee “My HERO from my 10 years at Drexel. There are so many worldwide who used Dean Dieter’s classic text. His entire devotion to his students, young and old, changed lives and re-engineered society. He certainly was instrumen- tal in guiding me when I was 18! He used to tell all freshman MSE students to read Metal Progress cover-to-cover each month, even if they didn’t initially understand it. In my case, I’ve been reading what is now Advanced Materials & Pro- cesses since October of 1963! We lost a giant!” – Frederick E. Schmidt, FASM, ASM past president “George Dieter was my teacher, mentor, and guardian angel of sorts. I was an immigrant to America having had two years of high school before entering Drexel in the met- allurgical engineering department that Dieter headed. The support, inspiration, and encouragement George Dieter gave me was pivotal for my success as an undergraduate. He was an amazing individual; highly disciplined, a vision- ary, and a superb strategic mind. His legacy to the field is huge. He was a leader who ensured that others were given opportunities to lead. He cared deeply about his fellow col- leagues, students, and staff. His disciplined stern facade was just that. He had a heart of gold and touched many of us. We spoke two weeks before his passing. We said our goodbyes, and both knew in silence that it was our last encounter. He will always be remembered.” – Diran Apelian, FASM, ASM Materials Education Foundation immediate past chair “George was a terrific metallurgist and made substan- tial contributions to the discipline. He was also a great guy with some amazing stories. I very much enjoyed the times he was able to attend chapter meetings. Truly a legend.” – Toni Marechaux, FASM, ASM trustee George Dieter (le ) receiving an award in 1984 for his leadership and service fromDiran Apelian, then head of Drexel University’s materials engineering department. DIETER LECTURE SERIES The George Dieter Endowed Distinguished Lecture Series in Mechanics and Materials at the University of Maryland will feature the very best schol- ars in both ME and MSE and will be attended by fac- ulty and students of both departments. To contribute to this endowment fund, visit https://bit.ly/2NaMSdE. Capturing the sentiments of the entire campus, UMD President Dr. Darryll J. Pines stated, “Dr. Dieter is an institution. He is a foundation. He is a legend.” “When my freshman year began in 1962, George Dieter joined Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel Univer- sity) as head of the metallurgical engineering department. I had started my B.S. in electrical engineering but did not enjoy the classes. In my sophomore year, George brought his co-worker, Richard Heckel from the DuPont Research Center to Drexel and I took his first course in Fundamentals of Fer- rous Metallurgy, which was great. I switched my major and have never regretted the change! Dieter added several new faculty while I was there, and made great improvements to the pro- gram. I was lucky to take his excellent Mechanical Metallurgy course and I have two editions of his book.” – George Vander Voort, FASM, ASM Handbook editor, past trustee George Dieter’s seminal textbook has been taught worldwide for decades.