Outstanding Researcher Dr. Peter Liaw
Dr. Peter Liaw is the College of Engineering's version of the Energizer Bunny: He just keeps going and going and going...
A professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and the college's Ivan Racheff Chair of Excellence, Liaw is known by students, staff and fellow faculty members for his enterprising research, positive outlook and boundless enthusiasm.
He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including being named as a College of Engineering Research Fellow in 2004 and a National Alumni Association Distinguished Service Professor.
"I am excited about what we are doing to assist the younger generation," Liaw said. "I'm always happy when we can make a contribution to research and education in our field, but I'm also pleased when we provide opportunities to our students to make them better-prepared to be good engineers and educators. I also want to raise the profile of our department and the university so that we can be better recognized in the materials field."
Liaw's tireless pursuit of research dollars has been extremely beneficial for the college and the university. In 2003, Liaw led a research team that received a multi-million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the International Materials Institute (IMI) at UT.
The group consisted of Liaw and MSE professors Raymond Buchanan and Hahn Choo as well as Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers and co-principal investigators Dr. Camden Hubbard, with the Metals and Ceramics Division, and Dr. Xun-Li Wang, with the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). NSF provided a grant of $3.6 million to establish IMI under the name of Advanced Neutron Scattering Network for Education and Research (ANSWER). UT also committed an additional $1.13 million in support of IMI through the efforts of the Office of the Provost (now the Office of the Chancellor) and the Tennessee Advanced Materials Laboratory (TAML), the Center for Materials Processing (CMP) and the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences (JINS), providing a total funding of $4.73 million for the institute through January 2009.
"Our overall mission is to develop an international neutron scattering network for innovative multi-disciplinary research and education," Liaw said.
Neutron scattering is a powerful technique that is particularly useful in the study of mechanical behavior for advanced structural materials, such as bulk metallic glasses, and composites and intermetallics.
"We are studying mechanical behavior, to show the lifetime of materials used for a variety of engineering applications," Liaw added. "We're working with several industrial companies, including Haynes International Inc., the Solar Turbine Company and Liquid Metal Technologies Inc."
Liaw hopes to eventually establish an advanced materials center operated jointly between ORNL and UT. He also is a strong believer in the connection between research and teaching.
"We should always combine research and teaching, they complement each another," Liaw commented. "I relate to my students as team members and as friends. We need to provide them with opportunities to work in research, to publish their results and to find good jobs after they graduate. I like to see them as independent researchers, as future engineers and educators and as individuals who will one day put their education and research to work to benefit our society."
And with that, he's off to the next challenge.