Thomas Receives TMS Award

Professor Brian Thomas has been chosen to receive the 2008 Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award from the Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. The award recognizes an individual who has made a long-lasting contribution to the design, synthesis, processing and performance of engineering materials with significant industrial applications. Professor Thomas will receive the award during the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting and Exhibition, which will take place in New Orleans, LA, March 9-13.

Professor Thomas has devoted his career to understanding and improving the continuous casting process for steel, and has made many significant contributions to industrial practice. He was the first to perform computational modeling research related to continuous casting that was validated by comparing his results with plant measurements. His mathematical models simulate a wide range of coupled phenomena, including fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer, solidification, shrinkage and stress generation in and below the mold region of a continuous steel slab casting machine. They have gained widespread acceptance in the steel industry, and he has received more than a dozen Best Paper awards from leading industry technical societies.