Oral-History:Diran Apelian
About Diran Apelian
Diran Apelian is the Alcoa-Howmet Professor of Engineering and Founding Director of the Metal Processing Institute (MPI) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He received his B.S. degree in metallurgical engineering from Drexel University in 1968 and his doctorate in materials science and engineering from MIT in 1972. He worked at Bethlehem Steel’s Homer Research Laboratories before joining Drexel University’s faculty in 1976. At Drexel he held various positions, including professor, head of the Department of Materials Engineering, associate dean of the College of Engineering and vice-provost of the University. He joined WPI in July 1990 as WPI’s Provost. In 1996 he returned to the faculty and leads the activities of the Metal Processing Institute.
He is credited with pioneering work in various areas of solidification processing and powder metallurgy – specifically in molten metal processing, aluminum alloy development, plasma deposition, spray casting/forming, and semi-solid processing of metals. During the last decade, he has worked on sustainable development issues, and particularly, resource recovery, reuse, and recycling. Apelian is the recipient of many distinguished honors and awards – national and international; he has over 600 publications to his credit; and serves on several technical, corporate and editorial boards. During 2008/2009, he served as President of TMS. Apelian is a Fellow of TMS, ASM, and APMI; he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Armenian Academy of Sciences.
In this interview, Apelian discusses the evolution of the mining industry over the past forty years.
About the Interview
Diran Apelian: An Interview conducted by Paul Burnett in 2015, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2015.
Copyright Statement
All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Diran Apelian, dated July 14, 2015. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited.
Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html
It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows:
Diran Apelian, “Everything Connected to Everything: Diran Apelian, Metallurgy, and Transformation of Modern Research Universities” conducted by Paul Burnett in 2015, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2015.
Interview Audio File
- Audio File
- MP3 Audio
(http://ethw.org/images/a/a5/Apelian_diran_01_03172015_mono.mp3)
Interview
INTERVIEWEE: Diran Apelian
INTERVIEWER: Paul Burnett
DATE: 2015
PLACE: Berkeley, California
Burnett:
This is Paul Burnett, interviewing Diran Apelian, and it’s March 17, 2015, and we’re here at Orlando, Florida, for the TMS [The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society] conference. And this is audio file one. This is for the Global Mining and Materials research project. So let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us where you were born, and where you grew up?
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