UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 2025 Nelson W. Taylor Lecture in Materials will be held from 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Friday, September 26, in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Heritage Hall on the Penn State University Park campus. The theme of this year’s lecture series is “Forging the future of steel.”
Keynote speaker Sir Harry Bhadeshia, a professor of metallurgy at Queen Mary University of London and Emeritus Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, will deliver the talk “Diffusion in iron: sometimes invigorating, at other times lethargic” at 11:20 a.m.
Bhadeshia is known for his contribution to metallurgy through his work on designing and creating new, stronger and more sustainable steels by precisely controlling their microstructure during a process known as bainite transformation. His research related to steel earned him a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2015.
The Nelson W. Taylor Lecture in Materials also will include three additional presentations by Penn State faculty:
Amrita Basak, Shuman Early Career Professor and associate professor of mechanical engineering, will give the lecture “Data science for additive processing of steel alloys” at 8:20 a.m.
Todd Palmer, professor of engineering science and mechanics and of materials science and engineering, will give the lecture “What is old is new again: new research challenges in the development and processing of stainless steels” at 9:15 a.m.
Tarasankar DebRoy, professor of materials science and engineering, will give the lecture “Welding science powers 3D printing, but can metal supply chains keep up?” at 10:20 a.m.
The lecture series is sponsored by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Department of Materials Science and Engineering. All talks are free and open to the public.
About Bhadeshia
Bhadeshia’s research is primarily focused on understanding and predicting solid-state phase transformations in steel, the process by which a steel’s internal crystalline structure changes. By applying physics, mathematics and computation, he developed a theoretical framework that allows metallurgists to predict the resulting microstructure and engineer new alloys with superior properties. His contributions to the field of metallurgy have been recognized with fellowships from both the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Bhadeshia has authored or co-authored more than 700 papers related to metallurgy, as well as several books. He earned a doctorate in metallurgy in 1980 at the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of the American Welding Society, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Indian National Science Academy, Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
About the Nelson W. Taylor Lecture Series
The lecture series honors the memory of Nelson W. Taylor (1869-65) who was head of Penn State’s Department of Ceramics from 1933-43, now named the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. During his tenure as department head, Taylor refined the ceramics undergraduate curriculum, strengthened the graduate program, expanded ties with industry and was able to attract important scientists to the faculty. He is recognized as the individual most responsible for establishing the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences as a major center for ceramics research. The Nelson W. Taylor Lecture Series was established in 1969 and has consistently attracted scientists of international prominence.
For more information, visit the lecture website.