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Colloquia & Seminars

John E. Hilliard Lecture & Symposium

Biography

John E. Hilliard joined the Northwestern faculty in 1962 and taught here for the next quarter century. Born and educated in the United Kingdom, he received a PhD from the University of Liverpool. There followed a postdoctoral appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and six years at the General Electric Research Laboratory before he came to Northwestern.

Professor Hilliard was an inspiring teacher for not only his students but also his colleagues and the wider metallurgical community. His work included four areas of research: the study of the thermodynamic and kinetic processes in inhomogeneous systems; the quantitative characterization of structure; the theoretical and experimental study of spinodal decomposition; and the synthesis and investigation of compositionally modulated films. The last two areas represent pioneering work cited with enormous frequency.

The John E. Hilliard Symposium

The John E. Hilliard Symposium is the Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s annual capstone event, where we highlight the original research of senior graduate students. Now in its 41st year, the symposium encourages communication between the department and representatives of companies and agencies that support our work. It is also an opportunity to welcome back alumni who are in the audience.

This year's Hilliard Symposium will be held on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 followed by the annual MSE Awards Banquet. RSVP here!

More information about the 2024 Hilliard Symposium Keynote Speaker David Snydacker will soon be available here. 

Full program details coming soon!

You can view the program from our 2023 symposium here. Congratulations to all of our award winners!

Previous Keynote Speakers

Kelsey Stoerzinger, Oregon State University
"Working at the Interface: Navigating Junctions within Materials and Disciplines"
May 18, 2023

Amber Genau, University of Alabama at Birmingham
“Dendrites and Diversity: One Academic’s Experience Navigating Complex Structures”
May 19, 2022

Mariana Bertoni, Arizona State University
"Chasing the sun from academia to industry and back again"
May 20, 2021

Michael J. Rawlings, TMS
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Presentation
May 20, 2021

Michelle Seitz, DSM Materials Science Center
"Stories of Industrial Science: Between the Perfect and the Practical"
May 21, 2020

Ruth Schlitz, Saint-Gobain Sage Glass
"Adventures in Manufacturing: A Career in Dynamic Glazing"
May 16, 2019

Matthew Jones, Rice University
"Nanoparticles as Meta-Atoms: Thinking by Analogy in Chemistry and Materials Science"
May 17, 2018

Christian Freyman, SRI International
"How do we measure success? The evaluation of federal investments in research and development."
May 18, 2017

Carolyn Duran, Intel Corporation
"Redefining What We Mean by a Quality Product"
May 19, 2016

Grace Wang, National Science Foundation
"Serendipity in Engineering: What did the Past Teach Us about the Future?
May 20, 2015

Andrea Hodge
"Can "Nano" Save the World or will it Just Make it Smaller?"
May 15, 2014

Todd Steyer, The Boeing Company
"Materials: An Aerospace Perspective"
May 16, 2013

John Cahn, University of Washington
"Fifty Years Since Hilliard Made All Things Diffuse at NU: The Joys and Never-Ending Challenges of Diffuse Interfaces"
May 17, 2012

Dmitry Shashkov, H.C. Starck's Inc.
"Engineer in Business: Notes from 'The Dark Side"
May 19, 2011

Charles Kuehmann, QuesTek Innovations
"Making Cyber Steels Fly"
May 20, 2010

Joanna Mirecki Millunchick, University of Michigan
"Directing Self Assembly and Defect Formation in Compound Semiconductors"
May 14, 2009

Christopher Schuh, MIT
"From the Ivory Tower to the Factory Floor: and NU Metallurgist Tries to Vertically Integrate"
May 15, 2008

Boris Vuchic, Pennant Capital
"From Y-Ba-Cu-O to Wall Street: Observations from a Random Walk into the Investment World"
May 17, 2007