ASM International Boston Chapter is pleased to announce the
following members as your 2019 - 2020 Officers
Chair: Robert (Robb) Westby
After a 4 year hitch with the US Army as a Spanish Linguist he became hooked on microscopy after looking at a fly in an electron microscope. He has spent nearly 30 years still in awe of what you can see. He holds a degree in Electron Microscopy with a background as a service lab specializing in SEM and EDS methods; a reliability engineer with two west coast semiconductor companies; a field service engineer; and, applications specialist for a major EDS company. Since 2010, he has been with JEOL USA as a regional sales manager for their EM products division. In his spare time he has taken up abstract painting and woodworking in between maintaining a nearly 100 year old home.
Robb has been an active member of the Boston Chapter for many years recently serving as Secretary and then Vice Chair for the Executive Committee. He is also an enthusiastic volunteer for the Chapter's annual Materials Experience held at BU and WPI. |
Treasurer: Dr. Santosh Jha
Dr. Santosh K. Jha is currently the Director (R&D/Admin.) & Business Manager of Surmet Corp., an advanced specialty materials solution company, headquartered in Burlington, MA. Dr. Jha joined Surmet Corp. as a Materials Scientist in August 2002. Here, working with a group of scientists and engineers, he focused on the development of ALON and Spinel Optical Ceramics. His job responsibilities at Surmet include overseeing and managing multiple R&D programs sponsored by Surmet, the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies. In this capacity, Santosh has helped Surmet carry out R&D programs worth over $110 million.
Santosh has over 20 years of R&D experience and has published more than 45 research papers in the areas of high temperature materials such as titanium aluminides and thermal barrier coatings, optical ceramics, and specialty coatings. Prior to joining Surmet in August 2002, Santosh worked at the University of Central Florida, Orlando. With a Ph.D. from IIT Bombay, Santosh also had the privilege of working as a Visiting Scientist at the KFA, Juelich, Germany as recipient of the prestigious Indo-German DLR fellowship. Santosh is an active member of the Boston Chapter and had the honor to serve as its Chair in 2007-2008. He also has served 5 terms as Treasurer and, as a testimonial to his excellence and tireless commitment to the Chapter, he was unanimously nominated and elected for this 7th term. |
Vice-Chair: Dr. Ryan Eriksen
Dr. Ryan Eriksen is currently a Postdoc at Boston University in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department working on Self-Cleaning Solar Power, which uses transparent electrodes to electronically remove dust from solar panels and mirrors. He operates as the project manager for the group, leading workers and consulting on experiments. He previously completed his PhD in Material Science and Engineering in 2015, working on a variety of projects from chemical sensors, fuel cells, and thermoelectrics. All of these topics had a central theme of high temperature electrochemistry.
Ryan has been an active member of the Boston Chapter since his undergraduate years, has been active in the role as secretary for the last year, and is now looking forward to serving as Vice Chair for the upcoming term. |
Secretary: Dr. Caitlin Walde
Caitlin has over 5 years of experience in powder development, material characterization, and cold spray development, working in collaboration with US ARL. She performed her Ph.D. research on enhancing and optimizing metallic feedstock powders for cold spray and other additive manufacturing processes, with a background specifically in the thermal treatment of aluminum alloy powders. During her Ph.D. years, Caitlin managed the day-to-day logistics in an ARL-funded research group, including the purchase and maintenance of high-value research equipment, training of new users on that equipment, managing and training new team members on ITAR restrictions, leading weekly group meetings, and mentoring and managing junior researchers. At Solvus Global, Caitlin manages multiple projects, including the design and fabrication of a novel powder processing method, as well as design and automation of innovative powder characterization techniques.
Caitlin was highly involved with student chapters of ASM and TMS (through the Material Advantage program) and has been involved in the ASM Boston chapter for nearly two years. She is excited to increase involvement as secretary. |