Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Napolitano Named new Renken Professor

 

Ralph Napolitano, MSE Associate Professor, has been named the successor to Brian Gleeson as the Renken Professor. We congratulate Ralph on this well-deserved recognition. Al Renken, a former executive at ALCOA, and his wife Julie wanted the professor that bears their name to represent their values and interests.  Ralph certainly does that.  Of great importance to Al and Julie is Ralph's increasing focus on developing new alloys and processes in collaboration with Iowa industry.  Al and Julie are Iowans, who support industry in Iowa specifically and the midwest more generally.  

 

Alan Renken grew up on a northwest Iowa farm and graduated from Iowa State in 1967 with a degree in engineering operations. He took a job at Alcoa's Davenport facility and worked 36 years for the company, moving up to posts as company vice president and president of primary metals. He retired from Alcoa in 2003. 

 

Napolitano received his PhD in metallurgy from Georgia Institute of Technology. His research is focused in the areas of crystal-melt interfacial phenomena and solidification dynamics as well as diffusive phase transformations and multi-component thermodynamics.  He has been on the faculty at ISU since 2000.  He is also an Ames Laboratory Scientist.

 

Endowed faculty positions such as the Renkens allow Iowa State and the College of Engineering to recruit and retain world-class leaders by providing the highest level of faculty recognition. Endowed positions help support course development, graduate assistants, laboratory equipment, salary enhancements, professional development and research projects. These opportunities ultimately enhance course and curriculum development, which improves the educational experience for students.

 

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