A materials scientist whose work on atomic structures impacts a wide variety of products and research has been named a University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distinguished Scientist.
Dr. Takeshi Egami, former professor and director of the Materials Characterization Center at the
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Dr. Takeshi Egami
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University of Pennsylvania, conducts neutron-scattering research that is helping to improve high-temperature superconductors, medical imaging, electroplating processes and other fields.
His leadership in instrumentation for neutron scattering will open new avenues of research for UT and ORNL and help scientists better understand the nature of atomic materials, Chancellor Loren Crabtree said.
“Egami is a superb scientist and teacher, clearly at the forefront of his field,” Crabtree said. “His technical expertise is exceptionally well matched to the direction of experimental and theory research within ORNL-s Metals and Ceramics Division and the Materials Science and Engineering Department and Department of Physics and Astronomy at UT.”
Dr. Lee Riedinger, ORNL deputy director for science and technology, said Egami is a very important addition to the research programs at the Spallation Neutron Source scheduled to start operation in 2006.
“Dr. Egami is a leader in the field of materials science, among the best in the country,” Riedinger said. “He has led the development of the use of pulsed neutron sources for investigating certain properties of materials.”
Egami’s research findings on how atoms control material properties could improve superconductivity, which is important for energy production and medical devices such as MRI and other brain sensors.
His experimental neutron studies with Toyota Motor Co. on nano-sized particles in catalytic converters are helping to clean automobile exhaust.
He earned degrees in engineering and applied physics at the University of Tokyo, and received a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
Honors and awards he has received include: the 2003 B. E. Warren Diffraction Physics Award, American Crystallographic Association; the Metal Physics Achievement Award, Japan Institute of Metals, 1988; and the Robert Lansing Hardy Gold Metal of TMS-AIME, 1974.
Egami has graduated 19 Ph.D.-s, leads or co-heads $3.2 million in current contracts and grants, holds four patents, and has 334 publications credits.
He will hold the joint title of Distinguished Professor in UT-s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Distinguished Scientist in the Metals and Ceramics Division at ORNL. His Science Alliance Web address is:
http://scialli.org/framesetdistinguished.html
The Science Alliance, a Tennessee Center of Excellence at UT, promotes collaboration in science and engineering between UT and partner institutions. The Distinguished Scientist Program is its primary program.
ORNL is a DOE multiprogram facility operated by UT-Battelle.