UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Nuclear Materials Steven Zinkle is the recipient of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) Leadership Award for 2022. TMS gives this award annually to an individual with exceptional leadership in the national and international metallurgy and materials fields from within an industrial, academic, governmental, or technical organization.
“My research career has been integrally connected with TMS, beginning with my first technical presentation at a joint TMS/ASM fall meeting when I was beginning my second year of graduate studies,” said Zinkle. “I have enormously benefited from the personal interactions and technical insights gleaned from TMS meetings. I am therefore deeply grateful for being recognized with the TMS Leadership Award.”
Zinkle was recognized for his research utilizing microstructure/property relationships that has enabled improved understanding of operational limits and design strategies for high-performance radiation-resistant materials. He has also been active in a variety of national materials research leadership roles, including membership on the National Academies National Materials and Manufacturing Board and the Condensed Matter and Materials Research Committee.
Collectively, these cover a broad swath of condensed matter and materials science and manufacturing topics of national and international interest. He has also recently served as National Academy of Engineering Materials Engineering section chair and has recently served as a member on multiple National Academies committees examining materials research and advanced technologies that require high performance materials.
TMS is a professional association has origins dating back to 1871 with its parent society, The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). Today, it works separately from AIME to better serve the community of minerals, metals, and materials scientists and engineers who work in industry, academia, and government positions around the world.
The award will be formally presented at the TMS-AIME Annual Awards Ceremony in March during the TMS 2022 Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California.