Michael Kassner
Chair of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Michael Kassner graduated with a Bachelors in Science-Engineering from Northwestern University in 1972, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 1979 and 1981.
Kassner accepted a position at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1981 and was employed there until 1990. During that period he performed basic research on the mechanical behavior of metals, as well as a variety of defense-related projects. He was promoted to Head of the Physical Metallurgy and Welding Section and was the Thrust Leader for Physical Metallurgy Research. In 1984 he spent a year on leave at the Univ. of Groningen in The Netherlands as a Fulbright Senior Scholar.
Kassner accepted a faculty position in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Oregon State University in 1990 where he was Northwest Aluminum Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the interdisciplinary graduate program in materials science. He received the College of Engineering Outstanding Sustained Research Award in 1995. While at Oregon State, Professor Kassner was detailed to Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy and a Program Manager. He was also on leave for one year at the NSF Institute of Mechanics and Materials at the University of California at San Diego, where he was an Adjunct Professor.
Kassner is currently active in pursuing research on creep, fracture, fatigue and thermodynamics. His current research is being supported by three National Science Foundation grants, Basic Energy Sciences of the Department of Energy, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The current titles include:
*Fundamental Mechanisms of Five Power-Law Creep in Metals and Alloys
*Mechanisms of Cyclic Deformation in Metals
*Development of New Inert Alloys for Aluminum Reduction
*Temperature, Stress and Microstructural Influences on the Luminescence
Properties of Rare Earth Activated Yttrium Oxide“
*The Mechanisms of Grain Refinement with Severe Plastic Deformation
Leading to Nanoscale Microstructures”
Kassner has published two books, one on the fundamentals of creep plasticity in metals and another on phase diagrams and has authored or co-authored over 160 published articles. He has been on several editorial and review boards for major scientific journals. He is a Fellow of the ASM International.
Contact:(213) 740-7212
kassner@usc.edu
