TMS Renames Educator Award for Weertmans

The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS) has established the TMS Julia and Johannes Weertman Educator Award.

The award honors Julia Randall and Johannes Weertman, who are both Walter P. Murphy Emeriti Professors in Materials Science and Engineering in Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering. Members of the National Academy of Engineering, the Weertmans are pioneers in materials research and have educated generations of students.

Previously called the TMS Educator Award, the annual honor was instituted in 1985 to recognize outstanding contributions to education in metallurgical engineering and/or materials science and engineering. The award is not limited to the classroom as it can include the acknowledgement of innovative ways to educate the general public.

“TMS is honored to be able to bestow this award in the names of Julia and Johannes, valued members who have contributed to TMS and science in many exemplary ways,” said James J. Robinson, executive director of TMS. “This award seems most fitting as it will honor them as educators to the many students they have touched and mentored. Their legacy will live on in many ways including in this Society award.”

Julia Weertman has made many contributions to understanding the basic deformation processes and failure mechanisms in a wide class of materials, from nanocrystalline metals to high-temperature structural alloys. Her career has been marked by many honors, including the 2014 John Fritz Medal from the American Association of Engineering Societies, 2003 Von Hippel Award from the Materials Research Society, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the 2005 ASM International Gold Medal.

Johannes Weertman has contributed to the areas of materials science and geophysics. He studies the mechanical properties of metals, including their fatigue and fracture. In the area of geophysics, he focuses on the flow of glaciers and ice sheets. He has received several awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship, the 1962 Robert E. Horton Medal from the American Geophysical Union, the 1977 Champion H. Mathewson Gold Medal of the Metallurgical Society, and the 1983 Seligman Crystal from the International Geophysical Society.