Gary Was stands at the front of a conference room giving a presentation. He is wearing a navy suit with a yellow tie and holding a microphone in one hand and a presentation remote in the other. A name badge with “PRESENTER” is visible around his neck.

Gary Was honored by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

The NERS Professor Emeritus was given the Institute of Metals Lecture and Robert Franklin Mehl Award.

By:

Sara Norman

NERS Professor Emeritus Gary Was was honored with the 2025 Institute of Metals Lecture and Robert Franklin Mehl Award. This prestigious award, established in 1921 and revised in 1972 to commemorate Robert Franklin Mehl’s contributions to metallurgy, recognizes distinguished scientific leaders in materials science and metals applications.

Was delivered the 2025 Institute of Metals/Mehl Lecture at the The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) Annual Meeting, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 23–25, 2025. The award was formally presented to him during the TMS-AIME Annual Awards Ceremony.

“Was is a champion of the Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory (MIBL) which is a unique shared research facility operated by a Nuclear Engineering department in a US university,” said Amit Misra, Was’s colleague and past Department Chair of Materials Science & Engineering. “Was’s leadership has enabled pioneering fundamental research on radiation effects in nuclear materials at MIBL for several decades and will continue in the future.”

Was’s lecture, titled “Answering the Challenge to Rapid Qualification of Core Materials for Advanced Reactor Designs,” addressed one of the most pressing issues in the nuclear energy field: radiation-induced degradation of materials used in advanced reactor designs. He discussed the challenges industry faces in obtaining the necessary data to support license applications due to the limited availability of test reactors and the lengthy timelines for acquiring performance data. 

Audience listening to a presentation in a conference room, with rows of seated attendees facing a speaker at the front. The room is filled with a diverse group of professionals, many attentively watching and taking notes.

In his presentation, Was proposed a solution utilizing ion irradiation, advanced characterization, and predictive modeling to accelerate the qualification of core structural materials. His research focuses on developing a predictive tool that integrates ion irradiation with computational materials modeling to assess material performance, benchmarked against reactor data and codified in ASTM standards. This approach provides licensees with essential justification for core material safety cases presented to regulators.

“Was’ contributions to the field of nuclear materials science have been widely recognized throughout his career, and this award further underscores his impact on advancing reactor technology and materials qualification processes,” said NERS Chair Todd Allen. “His work continues to shape the future of materials science and nuclear engineering, ensuring the safe and efficient deployment of advanced reactor designs.”

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