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James P. Schaffer, associate professor of chemical engineering at Lafayette College, is the 1999 recipient of the Bradley Stoughton Award from the Lehigh Valley chapter of ASM International, The Materials Information Society. The chapter’s highest award, presented annually since 1944, recognizes “outstanding contributions to engineered materials.”
Schaffer received the award at the chapter’s meeting on February 25. Last year he was named the nation’s most outstanding young engineering educator by the American Society for Engineering Education, the 104-year old national association dedicated to the improvement of engineering education.
Michael A. Paolino, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the engineering division at Lafayette, said, “Dr. Schaffer has received several awards over the years, a testament to his professionalism and dedication to what Lafayette stands for.”
Schaffer’s teaching and research specialty is the physical and electronic structure of materials. He teaches courses on materials, ceramics and composites and is co-author of a widely used textbook, The Science and Design of Engineering Materials. More than 30 Lafayette students have assisted him in his research, which currently includes identifying, describing and quantifying atomic-scale defects in materials.
“The primary purpose of my research program is to educate students,” says Schaffer.
Leon J. McGeady, professor emeritus of metallurgical engineering and former head of the engineering division, said, “He’s an outstanding young scientist who enjoys a good following with his students. He joins a long list of very distinguished metallurgists in winning this award.”
ASM International (formerly called the American Society for Metals) is the society for materials engineers, a worldwide network dedicated to fostering understanding and application of engineered materials and their research, design, reliable manufacture, use and economic and social benefits.
Todd N. Nelson, chairman of the Lehigh Valley chapter of ASM International and a research engineer at Bethlehem Steel, praised Schaffer’s educational contributions to the field of engineering.
“Jim has consistently promoted the field of materials science to younger students. His acceptance speech at the awards ceremony focused on education, and he made some very valuable and pointed comments,” he says.
Lafayette is one of nine organizations who are sustaining members of the Lehigh Valley chapter. Also included are seven industrial firms, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown; Carpenter Technology Corp., Reading; Hood & Co., Hamburg; Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co., Phillipsburg; NGK Metals Corp., Reading; Reading Alloys, Robesonia; and Warren Diamond Powder Co., and Lehigh University.