HIGHLIGHTS ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 49 MEMBERS IN THE NEWS Alpay Appointed VP Pamir Alpay, FASM, was appointed vice president for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship by the University of Connecticut’s President Radenka Maric. In this role, Alpay oversees the university’s $320 million research enterprise at Storrs, UConn Health, the School of Law, and regional campuses. He arrived at UConn in 2001 as an assistant professor of materials science and engineering and physics and rose through the ranks to Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in 2020. He served as head of the department of materials science and engineering from 2013-2017, executive director of the Innovation Partnership Building at UConn Tech Park beginning in 2017, and associate dean for research and industrial partnerships for the UConn School of Engineering from 2019 to 2022. Alpay earned his B.S. and M.S. from Middle East Technical University in Turkey, and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Parsons Posthumously Inducted into Hall of Fame James A. Parsons, Jr., was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for Durimet 20, also known as Alloy 20. The metallurgist and stainless steel pioneer was posthumously honored at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. on October 26. Parsons, born in 1900 in Dayton, Ohio, was a pioneer developer and patentee of stainless steel alloys in the 1930s and 40s. His groundbreaking research and innovation left Parsons an indelible mark on the chemicals industry, revolutionizing chemical processing worldwide. Parsons was the chief metallurgist and laboratory manager of an all-African American staff of chemists at Duriron Company (Durco). His corrosion-resistant alloys enabled the company to exclusively produce vessels, pumps, valves, and fittings capable of handling the isolation of uranium and plutonium corrosive solutions processed in the Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb during World War II. Durimet 20 has emerged as one of the most important man-made materials, designed for strength, corrosion resistance, and ease of fabrication. Parsons was a member of ASM and its Washington D.C. Chapter. Muecklich Receives Heyn Medal Frank Muecklich, FASM, received the Heyn Commemorative Medal Award. Normally bestowed at the end of a career, Muecklich’s exceptional contributions earned him early recognition. The Heyn award is named after the first chairman of the German Materials Society (DGM), Emil Heyn (1867-1922), and is the highest honor of the DGM. It is awarded for achievements in the field of materials science and engineering that have enabled significant progress in scientific, technological, or economic terms. Muecklich is a professor and chair of functional materials at Saarland University in Germany. He is an active member of ASM and the International Metallography Society (IMS), and has served on the IMS board. Muecklich received the Henry Clifton Sorby Award in 2016. Alpay IN MEMORIAM Ronald William Armstrong, FASM, 89, passed away on May 11. He was professor emeritus at the department of mechanical engineering, A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland, and an internationally renowned materials scientist living in Ocean City, Maryland. His areas of research included the strength of materials, polycrystal structures, and temperature and strain influences on mechanical properties. Armstrong had just completed editing two books and was actively working on a third while publishing additional research papers at the time of his passing. He was an editorial board member and guest editor of the journals Crystals and Metals. Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland, Armstrong was a tenured professor at Brown University. Born May 4, 1934, in Baltimore, Armstrong completed his Ph.D. at Carnegie Tech in three years. At Leeds University, he completed his postdoctoral research with Sir Norman Petch. Armstrong MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
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