Issued by: Laura L. Hunt, 414-229-6447; llhunt@uwm.edu
MILWAUKEE – The Motor Transport Institute of Poland has awarded Pradeep Rohatgi, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), an honorary medal to recognize his contributions in building the country’s research program in cast metal composites.
Cast metal composites are the high-performance products of combining metal with a totally different class of material, such as ceramics, to achieve greater strength with reduced weight. Considered an authority on the manufacture of these materials, Rohatgi also is director of the UWM Center for Composites.
The Polish government sought help from the United Nations around 1995 and was referred to the UWM Center for Composites. The U.N. provided funds for two researchers to spend a year of training at UWM. Since then, other Polish researchers have visited for short periods, resulting in several joint publications.
Poland is emerging as a leading producer of cast composites in Europe.
Now more than a $100-million-a-year industry, metal composites have applications in fields such as transportation, aerospace engineering and computer hardware, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.
Rohatgi, who earned his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Banaras Hindu University and his doctorate from MIT, has authored or co-authored 11 books and more than 400 scientific papers, and holds 20 U.S. patents. His 1965 research on synthesis of cast metal matrix composites was cited as a landmark in the history of metal casting by the American Foundry Society.
He has received several million dollars of funding in research contracts and gifts since his arrival at UWM in 1985. Sponsoring organizations have included the U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and International Copper Association, and corporations including Ford, General Motors, Electric Power Research Institute, Sunstrand, and Aluminum Company of Canada.
