Dr. Richard Fonda, a metallurgist in the Materials Science and Technology Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), has been selected a fellow of ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals. Dr. Bhatka Rath, NRL's Associate Director of Research for Materials Science and Component Technology, nominated Dr. Fonda, recognizing his ground-breaking research in friction stir welding and microstructural evolution in high strength steels and weldments.
Dr. Fonda's research has spanned a range of topics. His four most highly cited papers come from four different research areas: development of grain structure during friction stir welding, discovery of TaRu and NbRu high temperature shape memory alloys, accommodation of misfit strain around Ω precipitates in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag, and microstructural evolution in the simulated weld heat affected zone of HSLA-100 high strength steels. Much of his research at NRL has focused on the microstructural evolution occurring during friction stir welding, transformation behavior of Naval high strength steels, and the microstructural evolution in low-carbon steel weldments. He currently has nearly 100 publications and over 100 presentations.
Dr. Fonda is the head of the Microstructural Evolution and Joining section at NRL. He earned a bachelor's degree cum laude in geology and chemistry in 1983 from Juniata College; a master's degree in chemistry in 1986 from Cornell University, and a doctorate in materials science in 1991 from the University of Virginia.
Dr. Fonda has been honored with an NRL Alan Berman Research Publication Award, 2009; two NRL Technology Transfer awards, 2000 and 2003; the ASM Marcus A. Grossman Young Author Award, 2001; three Scripta Materialia Outstanding Reviewer Awards, 2004, 2005, and 2010; two NRL Special Act Awards, 1999 and 2000; and an NRL Patent Award, 2000; and an NRL Invention Award, 1997.
ASM International established the honor of Fellow of ASM in 1969 to provide recognition to ASM members for their distinguished contributions to materials science and engineering. This honor is based on a combination of professional, technical, and scientific achievements; sustained professional growth; contributions to ASM International; development of people; and professional recognition. ASM is an engineering and scientific society of 36,000 members worldwide dedicated to serving the materials science and engineering profession.