Dr. Chandra Pande, a metallurgist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, has been awarded ASM Honorary Membership for the year 2014 in recognition of his distinguished service to the materials science and engineering profession by his pioneering and seminal research and teaching and its promotion to metallurgical community.
ASM (formerly known as American Society for Metals) established Honorary Membership in the Society in 1919 to recognize distinguished service to the materials profession, to ASM International, and to the progress of mankind. As an interesting note, Thomas A. Edison, who thought of the idea for a research facility like NRL almost 100 years ago, received this award in 1929, and Pande is now the first NRL researcher to receive the award. Pande is a Senior Scientist at NRL and a member of the Multifunctional Materials Branch. He joined NRL in 1980 after receiving his doctorate in physical sciences from Oxford University and after teaching materials science at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and conducting research in physical metallurgy at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
His main research interests are in materials characterization using electron, X-rays and neutron scattering techniques. In addition he has also developed advanced modeling techniques to analyze the relationship between observed microstructure and material properties of many materials including nanomaterials and superconductors.
Pande is a Fellow of ASM International, a Senior Member of TMS (The Metallurgical Society), and Life Member of American Physical Society. He has held numerous elected offices in professional societies including Chair, Physical Metallurgy Committee of The Metallurgical Society (TMS) 1990 to 1992; Chair, Superconducting Materials Committee of TMS, 1997 to 1999; Chair, Bardeen Award Committee of TMS, 1999; Chair, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Phenomena Committee of ASM, 1995 to 1999; and Chair TMS Arora Award Panel, 2000 to 2013. In addition he has served as Associate Editor, International Journal of Electronic Materials, 1998 to 2000; and Member, International Advisory Board of Review of Advanced Materials Science (Russian Academy of Sciences) 2000 to 2005; and is currently a member of the Board of International Materials Reviews.
Pande has demonstrated excellence in the fields of physics and materials sciences and has attracted international recognition through over 175 refereed journal articles, 5 book chapters, 4 NRL Alan Berman Research Publication Awards and numerous invited talks at home and abroad. ASM International honored him with the Burgess Award (1995) for exceptional sustained research contribution over a five-year period.