ACRC Announces Merton C. Flemings and Ray H. Witt Awardees
The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) of the Metal Processing Institute (MPI) is pleased to announce the winners of the Mert Flemings and Ray H. Witt Awards for 2004.
Each year the ACRC recognizes two individuals who have made significant contributions to the industry.
The Merton C. Flemings Award, established in 1991, is given to an individual who significantly contributed to our understanding of solidification processing fundamentals, which have been applied commercially in the foundry industry. This year's recipient is Dr. J. Fred Major, of Alcan International Ltd. Currently, Major is a Research Scientist in the Shape Casting R&D team at the Kingston Research & Development Centre, Kingston, Ontario.
Dr. Major received his Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc., 1981), Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc., 1984), and Ph.D. (1989) in Metallurgy and Materials Science, at the University of Toronto. He has worked on many topics (some published, some internal to Alcan) related to aluminum foundry alloy metallurgy.
Major has also worked with many Alcan foundry alloy customers on issues related to alloy chemistry, metal handling, defect and failure analysis, etc.
Dr. Major has also served two terms on the ACRL (now ACRC - Advanced Casting Research Center) Steering Committee at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA. He also co-chaired the focus group for an ACRC project on fatigue mechanisms in Al-Si alloys.
He has worked with the USCAR Light Alloy Castings project, contributing guidance as well as written sections on foundry alloys and heat treating.
Major has received many distinguished honors and awards including the ASM Canada Council, M. Brian Ives Lecturer, has many publications to his credit, and serves on several technical committees.
The Ray H. Witt Award, established in 1999, is given to an individual for his/her leadership in the aluminum casting industry, for investing resources to broaden the technology base; for introducing advanced concepts and techniques; for encouraging the education and training of new talent and for inspiring others to advance the industry through technical achievement. This year the award will be given to Thomas E. Prucha, Vice President of Technical Services at INTERMET. Prucha's responsibilities include oversight of INTERMET's research and development, materials, process and product engineering and development, environmental activities, and facilities engineering.
Prior to INTERMET Prucha was Vice President of Technology. at CMI International.
He is active in the American Foundry Society (AFS), most recently serving as chairman of its Research Board and as past chairman of the AFS Aluminum Division. He has been recognized with several industry awards including the AFS Aluminum Division Service Award in 1994, the AFS Award of Scientific Merit in 2003 and the NADCA Nyselius Award for Technical Contribution in 2003.
Prucha also is active in many other metal-casting technical societies, including the North American Die Cast Association's (NADCA) Die Material Committee. He also serves on the NADCA Technical Advisory Group. He is a member of the steering committee of the CORMAG (Cost-Reduced Magnesium Die Casting) program, which is sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Science and Technology. CORMAG's mission is to develop low-cost magnesium technology for high-ductility automotive applications.
He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in metallurgical engineering from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He also holds three patents related to metal-casting technology.
Both Major and Prucha will receive their awards at the ACRC Spring Meeting on May 26th.
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