Mark E. Glicksman ’57, John Tod Horton Professor of Materials Engineering, was recently honored as a recipient of the prestigious Humboldt Research Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany.
As part of being awarded the prize, Glicksman will be conducting research in Germany for two six-month periods in 2002 and 2003.
When asked about receiving the Humboldt award, Glicksman said, "It’s a very prestigious award. I’m certainly very grateful." He added, "I’m very pleased to have this laid on me. I think it’s nice recognition. After 40 years, I guess I’ve been doing something right."
For his research activity in Germany, Glicksman will receive $50,000 and will meet with the German president in a ceremony this coming July.
A nonprofit organization established for the promotion of international research cooperation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation annually grants up to 150 of its Humboldt Research Awards to scholars in science, engineering, and arts and letters.
Of those, 70 are awarded to individuals in the fields of science and engineering in the U.S. as thanks for the nation’s post-WWII rebuilding support. Those in other countries are elibible 70, and 10 go to those internationally in the fields of arts and letters.
Glicksman was recognized with the Humboldt Research Prize for his lifelong research contributions to materials processing, including study of metals solidification, control of microstructures, microgravity science, and crystal growth of electronic materials.
He developed RPI’s Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment, which featured several microgravity crystal growth experiments successfully flown on space shuttle missions in 1994, 1996, and 1997.
Applications of the IDGE results will help improve productivity in the metals industry.
Glicksman noted that he had just applied for a sabbatical and could use the time-off, since he has not taken any in 15 years.
He has recently written a materials engineering textbook, entitled Diffusion in Solids: Field Theory, Solid-state principles, and Applications, which has been widely used in several materials engineering classes at RPI for the Fall 2000 and Spring 2001 semesters.
Discussing the textbook, Glicksman said, "I have a couple of other books in writing. My field could use new books like this one."
In addition to being a fellow of the Metallurgic Society, the American Society for Materials, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Glicksman is also a member of the American Physical Society and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Glicksman received his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering in 1957 and his doctorate in physical metallurgy in 1961, both from RPI.
He became a member of the Rensselaer faculty in 1975 as the chair of the materials science and engineering department, and was named the John Tod Horton ’52 Professor of Materials Engineering in 1986.
Prior to joining the RPI faculty, Glicksman was a researcher at the Naval Research Laboratory’s Metallurgy Division, and then an associate superintendent of the NRL’s Solid State Division. He established the NRL’s Transformation and Kinetics Branch in 1967.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1996. Throughout his career, Glicksman has received a number of other awards, including NASA’s Award for Technological Excellence and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ National Space Processing Award for his work on the IDGE.
