Mahajan lauded as leading materials engineer

One of the highest honors in materials science and engineering has been awarded to Arizona State University engineering professor Subhash Mahajan.

ASM International, one of the leading professional societies in the field, will present Mahajan the ASM Gold Medal at the Materials Science and Technology Conference and Exposition next year in Columbus, Ohio.

The award recognizes outstanding knowledge and versatility in the application of science to the field of materials science and engineering, and exceptional ability in the diagnosis and solution of materials problems.

Mahajan is a Technical Fellow in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He’s a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a Regents’ Professor – the highest title given to faculty at Arizona’s state universities.

“Dr. Mahajan is one of our most accomplished engineering faculty members, being the first elected to the NAE while on the faculty at ASU,” said Deidre Meldrum dean of the engineering schools. “He provides outstanding technical expertise, leadership and mentorship to both our faculty and students. The ASM Gold Medal award is another well-deserved testament Mahajan’s success in the field of functional materials.” 

Specifically, Mahajan is being recognized for outstanding contributions to structure-property relations in functional materials.

This area involves work with semiconductors, magnetic materials and superconducting materials.

He is among the world’s leading experts in the field. Early in his career he performed research on materials deformation behavior of solids, making seminal contributions to the phenomenon of deformation twinning.

Later, Mahajan brought that knowledge to research on functional materials. His studies on materials for light-wave communication devices, magnetic materials for switches and telephony, lack of ductility in vanadium silicide and group III nitrides, have been recognized for their elegance and simplicity.

His achievements have earned him invitations to present lectures throughout the world, and positions on the advisory committees of numerous materials science and engineering departments. 

Mahajan’s career has included working with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in England and AT&T Bell Labs in United States. He has held academic positions in Germany, Belgium and France, and with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, before coming to ASU in 1997, where in 2000 he became chair of what was then the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. In 2006, he became the founding director of the former School of Materials, the position he relinquished in 2009 to assume his current position.

As Technical Fellow he helps lead efforts to recruit high-caliber engineering faculty for ASU and mentor junior faculty members. He also continues to conduct materials research – specifically in studies of nitrides.

ASM International’s 36,000 members worldwide include engineers working in nanotechnology, manufacturing, materials for medical devices, energy technologies, and aerospace, automotive and homeland security technologies, among others.