Dr. Apelian received his BS degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Drexel University (1968) and his Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT (1972). After graduating from MIT, he joined Bethlehem Steel’s Homer Research Laboratories where he co-developed the Ultra-Form series of high strength low alloy steels. He joined Drexel University in 1976 and held various positions at Drexel, including professor, Head of the Department of Materials Engineering, Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, and subsequently Vice-Provost of the University. He joined WPI in July 1990 as the Institute’s Provost and led the mission of broadening WPI’s academic programs and research agenda. After a six-year tenure as Provost, he headed the Metal Processing Institute (MPI) at WPI, which is an industry-university alliance with Centers in Metal Casting, Heat Treating, and Resource Recovery and Recycling. MPI is supported by over 80 corporate partners, as well as funding from private foundations and the federal government. During the last decade, MPI has developed into one of the nation’s premiere research centers dedicated to metal processing. The Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling is the Nation’s first center dedicated to recycling of materials; it is an NSF sponsored I/UCRC Center. Professor Diran Apelian is widely recognized for his innovative work in metal processing and for his leadership as a researcher and educator. His research has helped establish mechanisms and fundamentals in metal processing and helped lay the foundations for significant industrial developments. In particular, his work in the fields of molten metal is processing, plasma processing, spray casting, and shape casting of aluminum alloys can be described as pioneering work. More recently, his work in the development of technologies to recover and recycle materials is critically important for a sustainable future. A characteristic of Professor Apelian’s work is that his scholarly output is valued and utilized by the industrial sector. Much of today’s industrial developments in shaped aluminum castings has been influenced by the work of Professor Apelian and his students. Apelian has a unique talent for building bridges between the industrial and academic communities, and for identifying fundamental scientific issues holding back the development of a given technology. He has over 500 publications to his credit and twelve books, which he has written or co-edited. For his achievements, Professor Apelian has been honored with a number of awards. These include the Howard Taylor Gold Medal in 1987 by AFS, as well as the Scientific Merit Award of AFS (1990); he is an Honorary Member of NADCA. In 1990 Apelian received ASM’s Henry Marion Howe Medal for the best paper or series of papers in Metallurgical Transactions by AIME. In March 1992, at the TMS Annual Meeting, he received the Champion H. Mathewson Gold Medal for his contributions to the literature. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate and was named Honorary Professor of Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xian, China, in 1997. He is an Honorary Member of the French Materials Engineering Society- SF2M (2000). He is a Fellow of ASM, APMI and TMS, and was the recipient of the Bruce Chalmers Award in 2006 awarded by TMS.