During a break in the program at the recent MIM2018 international conference in Irvine, California, Metal Powder Report consulting editor Joseph Capus interviewed Dr. Randall German, now Emeritus Professor at San Diego State University, about his outstanding academic career in PM.
Dr. Randall (Rand) German needs no introduction in these pages, having made a great many contributions to the science and technology of powder metallurgy and particulate materials over a long and brilliant career. Indeed, as guest speaker during the POWDERMET2017 conference in Las Vegas last June, he was introduced as “PM industry’s most recognizable resource”.
Rand German was born in Maryland, USA, but was mostly brought up in California, where he took his bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering at San José State University, before moving on to an MS in Metallurgical Engineering at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and a PhD at University of California – Davis. After research posts at government labs and industry, he has held a succession of university professorships and chairs. In his teaching and research career he has supervised well over a hundred graduate and post-doctoral students, resulting in more than 1000 publications as well as 17 books. He has been presenting tutorials in powder injection molding in conjunction with MPIF’s annual MIM conferences since 1990, and he has co-chaired over 30 conferences.
Among multiple awards, Dr. German has received an honorary doctorate from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Apart from academic activities, he heads up his own consulting company and serves on the Technical Advisory Board of Pangaea Ventures and has been involved in numerous start-up companies. He was interviewed for this article during a break in the recent MIM2018 conference in Irvine, California.
This article appeared in the May–June 2018 issue of Metal Powder Report.
