Dr. Bhakta Rath, head
of the Naval
Research Laboratory's Materials Science and Component
Technology Directorate, was recently named a Fellow of the Institute
of Materials of the United Kingdom. The Institute confers this
prestigious recognition to those with an established and enhanced
reputation in materials science and technology.
The Institute of
Materials
serves the international materials community through
its wide
range of activities and by acting as the professional
body for
materials scientists and engineers. It has a
membership of over
18,000 throughout the United Kingdom,
Europe, and the United
States.
In addition to
the recognition as Fellow and as a separate honor,
Dr. Rath has
also been recognized with an international symposium
on
"Science and Technology of Interfaces" held in Seattle
honoring his seminal contributions in the field. The symposium
was dedicated to Dr. Rath for "his pioneering research and
for his leadership in the areas of interfaces. Many facets of
his research interest in interfaces were the subjects of various
scholarly presentations at this symposium. The symposium was
sponsored by a number of committees and societies, including
the Physical Metallurgy, Titanium, Mechanical Behavior of Materials
and the Structural Materials Division and Committees of the
Materials
Society and the American Society for Materials
International.
The proceedings of the conference, edited by
members of TMS,
ASM, the Russian and Indian Academies of
Science, are intended
to serve as a reference text.
Following several years as a tenured professor at Washington
State University, Dr. Rath worked as a senior research scientist
at the Edgar C. Bain Laboratory for Fundamental Research of U.S.
Steel Corporation and the McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratory.
He joined NRL in 1976 and was selected as an Associate Director
in 1986. He has been an active participant in materials science
R&D policy in and for the Department of Defense, the Department
of State, and in connection with international bodies in the
U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and China.
Dr. Rath has received
a number of honors and awards, including the National Materials
Advancement Award from the Federation of Materials Societies
(2001), the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive Award
(1999), the Distinguished Award for outstanding contributions
to basic and applied research in materials science (1996), the
George Kimball Burgess Memorial Award (1992), the Charles S.
Barrett Award from ASM International (1991), the Leadership Award
from the Materials Society (TMS), the S. Chandrasekhar Award
and Medal, and the Award of Merit for Group Achievement from
the Chief of Naval Research. The American Society for Materials
International (ASM) and The Metals, Minerals and Materials Society
(TMS) have jointly recognized him with the TMS/ASM Joint
Distinguished
Lectureship in Materials & Society Award and
the 2001 ASM
Distinguished Life Membership Award.
Dr. Rath is a Fellow of The Materials Society, the Washington
Academy of Science, the American Society for Metals, the Indian
National Academy of Engineering, and the Academy of Metallurgical
and Materials Engineers of Michigan Technological University.
He serves as a member of the advisory boards and review boards
for several government agencies and a number of universities,
as a member of the editorial board of five international scientific
journals, and as Executive Chair for materials research, appointed
by the Undersecretary of Defense, on Science & Technology
collaborations with TTCP countries (U.K, Canada, Australia and
New Zealand).
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