DESCRIPTION: The ASM International Organization on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies (SMST) Interview Series is a student driven production aimed to provide insight into the technical, educational, professional, and sometimes personal paths taken by SMST members and affiliates. For the first webinar of the year, the Student Member Engagement (SME) Committee will introduce the webinar agenda for the year, as well as discuss the 2025 SMST Ireland event being held in May. Next, our distinguished guest speaker, Dr. Brian Berg, will give a brief talk, taken from his “Nitinol for Medical Devices” course lecture. This 20-minute discussion will explore the stress-strain response of Nitinol, distinguishing the elastic, plastic, and phase change behavior during mechanical load-unload cycles. It is an excellent preview to the full Nitinol workshop, which will be presented at the 2nd SMST Ireland event on May 21, 2025 in Galway, Ireland. This is a fantastic opportunity to about learn real-world medical applications for SMAs not usually offered in standard university coursework. We hope to see you there!
SPEAKER: Brian Berg, Senior Research Fellow – Boston Scientific (pic attached)
Brian Berg is a Senior Research Fellow at Boston Scientific. He was the previous Principal Scientist at Flexmedics from 1994-96. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University-Bozeman. He completed his PhD in Theoretical Mechanics at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Berg now specializes in the mechanics of NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs). He studies Nitinol at Boston Scientific where he performs testing to determine in vivo loads on medical devices such as coronary stents and heart implants. Basically, he breaks them, figures out why, and then makes them better. Dr. Berg helps write instrumental ISO and ASTM standards for medical devices on fatigue, securement, corrosion and more. Dr. Berg was a previous member of the SMST board, and he co-teaches many SMA workshops, offering his knowledge of the properties of NiTi and how they apply to the medical device industry.
Sponsored by: The International Organization on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies (SMST)