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Professor David StJohn Wins the 2020 Bruce Chalmers Award
Emeritus Professor David StJohn from the University of Queensland has been awarded the 2020 Bruce Chalmers Award by The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS).
The Bruce Chalmers Award recognises an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the science or technology of materials processing, and includes a life-time membership to TMS. The award honours Bruce Chalmers, a professor of metallurgy and former master of John Winthrop House at Harvard University. Chalmers was a senior researcher in physics and atomic energy during and after World War II in Britain. He joined the Harvard faculty as Gordon McKay Professor of Metallurgy in 1953. Chalmers served as master of Winthrop House, an undergraduate residence, from 1964 to 1975. He retired in 1977 after 24 years as a professor in Harvard’s division of engineering and applied sciences. Harvard University called him ‘an authority in the field of metallurgy’. Professor StJohn received the award for his outstanding contributions to the solidification science of nucleation during grain refinement, and the materials processing of aluminum, magnesium and titanium alloys of technological importance. According to Professor StJohn, “It is a great honour to have been chosen for this award. Bruce Chalmers’ work on constitutional supercooling was an important concept studied during my PhD, and it has been a key element of my, and my colleagues’, research on grain refinement and nucleation ever since.” “Of the many awards that TMS offers, this one is closest to my research interests, and I thank TMS for recognising the contribution that Bruce Chalmers made to metallurgy and, in particular, the field of solidification. Receiving this Award was made possible by the contributions of my students, research fellows, and collaborators, and therefore this award belongs to all of us,” said Professor StJohn. Professor StJohn’s research is focused on
L to R: TMS 2020 President James Foley and Professor David StJohn.
solidification technology, with particular interest in grain refinement and the formation of defects in castings of aluminium, magnesium and titanium alloys. He has over 300 publications in journals and conference proceedings, and was awarded the John Campbell Medal in 2014, the Materials Australia Silver Medal in 2011, the American Society of Metals Henry Marion Howe Medal in 2006, and the Magnesium Technology Award by TMS in 2003.
Professor StJohn is a graduate of the University of Queensland (UQ) with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and PhD in Physical Metallurgy. He has held appointments in Canada, RMIT University and CRA-Advanced Technical Development in Perth, as well as his long-held association with UQ. From 1994 to 2008, he was with the CAST Cooperative Research Centre, becoming CEO from August 2002 until 2008. He led the successful bid for the Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) in 2008, and initiated the Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) at UQ in 2009. He also successfully led an application to the Queensland State Government to fund a new building to house AMPAM, which led to a further application to the Australian Federal Government for additional funding to construct the Advanced Engineering Building (AEB). He was then Chair of the Project Control Group for the construction of the AEB, which was completed in 2013. Professor St John has made a significant contribution to developing research partnerships with industry and obtaining financial support for research and education facilities (totalling more than $300 million). Since 2003, this has included $130 million for the new Advanced Engineering Building at UQ, $70 million for industry-research partnerships such as the CAST CRC and the DMTC, and over $2 million for competitive research funding including several ARC grants. Current industry partners include Cook Medical, Bluescope Steel, Nihon Superior, Magontec and Baosteel.
