image: Senior Metallurgist Iver Anderson, winner of the TMS Application to Practice Award, leads a tour at the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory in 2013. view more
Credit: US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory
Iver Anderson, senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and adjunct professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University, has been chosen as a recipient of the 2014 Application to Practice Award by TMS, the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.
The award is given to a person who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in transferring research in metallurgy and materials into commercial production and practical use as a representative of an industrial, academic, governmental, or technical organization.
Ames Laboratory Interim Director Tom Lograsso said the lab was fortunate to have Anderson driving the commercialization of materials developed there, calling him "a remarkable scientist and a practical metallurgist."
"Iver has a natural talent for devising solutions to materials problems, the ingenuity to develop new materials, the ability to address both the scientific and technical challenges, and the persistence to put those new materials on a fast track to commercial use," said Lograsso.
Anderson will accept the award at the 2014 TMS-AIME awards ceremony held Feb. 18 in San Diego, Calif.
Anderson attributed his success to a philosophy that goes back to his undergraduate days at Michigan Technological University.
"My background is metallurgical engineering, and the whole idea behind the discipline is what you do in science should have a reason. It should solve a problem. It's that aspect of what I do that is so exciting to me. These problems are often difficult ones, so if you figure out a way to solve it, you feel you've really contributed something. It makes science relevant to our lives; it's why I do science."
Anderson has a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from University of Wisconsin (1982); he worked at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory from 1982-1987, and at the Ames Laboratory since 1987.
His research is on powder metallurgy and rapid solidification, involving high-pressure gas atomization of fine metal powders and highly controlled powder processing of rare earth compounds, magnetic materials, structural components, lightweight and porous materials, and joining problems including lead-free solders and ceramic joining.
Anderson is a fellow of both the American Powder Metallurgy Institute and ASM International. Currently, he is serving on the Board of Trustees of ASM International. Previous TMS awards are the 2008 Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award (EMPM Division) and the 1996 TMS Distinguished Service Award. Other honors include 1991 and 2010 Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer, a 1991 R&D-100 Award, the 2001 Energy 100 Award, 2006 Iowa Inventor of the Year, 2008 Excellence in Research Award from the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State, and the 2010 Iowa State University Intellectual Property Award. Recent recognition for his work is the 2013 D.R. Boylan Eminent Faculty Award for Research from Iowa State University. He has over 170 publications and 36 patents.
Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems.