FEATURE ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | SEPTEMBER 2025 59 HEAT TREATING SOCIETY NEWS HTS NAMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS FOR 2025 The Heat Treating Society (HTS) board, following the recommendation of the HTS Awards and Nominations Committee, has announced its officers and board members for 2025. Chuck Faulkner has been named president, with Lee Rothleutner serving as vice president, and Steve Ferdon reappointed as secretary. New board members include Thomas Christiansen and Kathy L. Hayrynen, FASM, who will each serve three-year terms (2025–2028); and Larissa Vilela Costa, appointed for a two-year term (2025–2027). Rajan Bhambroo and reappointed member Alexandra Glover will serve as Emerging Professional Board Members for the 2025–2026 term. Mitchell H. Shields and reappointed member Ben Gwinnell will serve as Student Board Members for the same term. Continuing on the board are Benjamin Bernard, who will serve as immediate past president and treasurer, along with Allen Fuller, Liang He, Hannah Noll, and Trisha Rouse. Departing the board are Lesley Frame, Robert Madeira, Michael Nappi, Doug Puerta, Ryan Van Dyke (Emerging Professional Board Member), and Justin Smith (Student Board Member). All newly appointed terms begin on October 1. Chuck Faulkner joined Quaker Houghton in 1983 and his current position is Senior Business Development Manager – Heat Treatment + Forging. He currently serves as ASM HTS Expo Committee Co-Chair, T&P Committee member, and past Co-Chair/current member of Heat Treat Mexico. Faulkner has a BA in organizational management from Eastern College, St. Davids, Pa. Lee Rothleutner leads the materials research and development department at The Timken Company, providing technical and management oversight to a portfolio of over 30 projects. These projects span heat treatment process development, steel alloy design, coatings development, and additive manu- facturing. He also manages the materials characterization and damage analysis groups, which handle around 1100 technical requests annually in their state-of-the-art, 12,000 sq. ft. laboratory in North Canton, Ohio. Rothleutner earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in metallurgical and materials engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. His research focuses on ferrous alloy design, thermal treatment processes, retained austenite stability, ultrahigh-strength steels, and sustainable metallurgical practices. Steven Ferdon leads the global organization responsible for materials science, tribology, and chemical engineering support to the Cummins fuel systems, turbocharger, electronic components and valve train systems product lines. With over 70 engineers and technicians, working out of 11 labs in six countries, his team serves the business across the entire product lifecycle, from research and develop- ment to production manufacturing, to repair and refurbishment of returned cores for service parts. Thomas L. Christiansen is a professor in mechanical and materials engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and serves as the Director of the Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE). He joined WPI in July 2023, bringing with him 25 years of experience in thermochemical surface engineering and heat treatment of metallic materials. Before joining WPI, Professor Christiansen was affiliated with The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where he played a pivotal role in advancing research and education in metallurgy and materials science. His expertise spans heat treating, microstructure optimization, surface engineering, and gas-metal interactions, all of which contribute to improving the performance and durability of metallic components. Kathy L. Hayrynen, FASM, is the vice president of research and development of Aalberts surface technologies (AST) HIP | braze | heat treatment. She is a ferrous metallurgist with a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from Michigan Technological University. Hayrynen was introduced to the austempering process during her senior design project at MTU and has never looked back, continuing to research austempered ductile iron for her M.S., Ph.D., and post-doctoral programs before joining Applied Process in 1995 to work on commercializing several austempering-related processes. Applied Process was acquired by AST in 2019. Hayrynen is a Fellow of both ASM and Alpha Sigma Mu. She is past chair of the Detroit Chapter of ASM and continues to serve on their Board as an organizer of the annual ASM Teachers Materials Camp in Ann Arbor. Faulkner Rothleutner Ferdon Christiansen Hayrynen 5
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