Dear ASM Pittsburgh Chapter Members and Friends of the ASM Pittsburgh Chapter,
We are excited to announce our biggest meeting of the year - the Young Members' Night meeting with over 100 attendees expected! This year we are having the meeting at the beautiful venue of University Club, University of Pittsburgh (123 University Place, Pittsburgh, PA ). We expect some great student crowd for the poster session, student presentations from Pitt and CMU, and the guest speaker for the meeting Dr. Navin Manjooran from Solve. The meeting will be on Thursday, February 19th, 2026 from 05:00 pm until 08:30 pm. Registration fills up quickly for this event, so to give your RSVP please use the link below. RSVP no later than Tuesday February 17th.
Event RSVP: https://forms.gle/iGZ7NZqPr8Tfm7497
Parking garages nearby include https://alcoparking.com/lot-garage/soldiers-and-sailors-parking-garage/ (4390 Bigelow Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Entrance to parking garage on Bigelow Boulevard).
Registration Fee: $35 (ASM members), $40 (Non-members and spouses), $30 (Retirees and spouses), $25 Students (their department pays for them) - Add $5 for no RSVP
Meeting Agenda:
Poster Session: 05:00 - 06:00 PM
Buffet Dinner: 06:00 - 07:00 PM
Speaker Session: 07:00 - 08:00 PM
Awards and Wrap Up: 08:00 - 08:30 PM
Note for students: those who want to display their posters, you may arrive by 04:30 PM to set up your posters. Pl. bring your own easels with you if you have them.
See you all on 19th Feb evening!
ASM Pittsburgh Chapter
About the Guest Speaker:
Title: “Inventing the Future with Materials: ‘The Backbone of Modern Technology & Innovation’”
Abstract: Technology and innovation enhancements have tremendous potential to transform the way we live, learn, work and play. These enhancements significantly influence organizations by creating a new playing field, sharply disrupting markets, changing the relative importance of resources, challenging system capabilities, and reorganizing the basis of competition globally. Hence, it is essential to understand and predict how materials interact - specifically for selecting the appropriate material or material system for the targeted application concerned while maximizing the component beneficial features. The benefits can range from increasing component life to effectively utilizing the material or material system thereby translating to reduced component lifetime cost, increased component efficiency, increased flexibility and reliability or helping with reduced emissions. Real-life case examples scenarios with materials solutions for energy, industry and healthcare will be presented and discussed. Geared for a “student-mindset,” a look at Dr. Hoffman’s varied materials science research journey from undergraduate to graduate school, research at a national laboratory, and even an application of materials science with her hobbies. Stories will be shared about how some opportunities were planned and some were stumbled upon. Examples will also be given on the importance of keeping an open mind and lifelong learning. Building on experiences and education will be discussed, including drawing upon connections between research projects along the way to solve problems.
Bio: Dr. Navin Manjooran serves as the Chairman of Solve, a global technology and research services company addressing critical energy, industry, medical and infrastructure challenges. For almost a decade, he was in the global leadership team of Siemens AG with responsibility in management of complex global teams. In this role, he provided leadership from the corporate side for the entire Siemens portfolio; including expanding international collaborations, developing the global strategy, driving revenue growth and ensuring Siemens stays a trend-setter for advanced technology and innovation.
Dr. Manjooran is the President and Chair of the Board of Trustees of ASM International, the world’s largest materials society with ~16,000 members. He serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board for materials science and engineering, the College of Engineering at the University of Florida. He has served on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, University of Chicago Board of Trustees and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) energy initiative board. Dr. Manjooran has also served as the co-chair of the Virginia Tech capital campaign (aimed at raising one billion USD) for the New York Region and the Orlando/ Tampa Region. After a four-year quiet phase, the campaign launched with a $1 billion goal in October 2007, despite consultants recommending a more conservative target of $800 million or less. By June 30, 2011, when campaign counting stopped, $1.11 billion in outright gifts, pledge payments, or commitments of future support had been raised. He also serves as a Board Member of the Indian American Engineering organization (AAEI), Keiser University (CSE), ASM MEF (2023-24) and others.
He is a Fellow of seven global professional organizations and is a Chartered Engineer. He is an invited and appointed member of four academic and leadership honor societies, namely: Alpha Sigma Lambda, Omicron Delta Kappa, Alpha Sigma Mu and Sigma Xi. Since 2010, Dr. Manjooran has served as a Professor adjunct in materials science and engineering at Virginia Tech. He co-organized over forty-one international symposia, over a hundred and forty technical sessions and taught over fifteen courses for the National Institute of Technology, University of Florida, Virginia Tech and various global materials engineering and mechanical engineering professional societies including, ASM International, ACerS, TMS, AIST, IEEE and ASME.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT Warangal, India), a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida, and a doctorate in materials science and engineering from Virginia Tech. He also has an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He also has his executive management education from Harvard University.
Dr. Manjooran has twelve books, twelve patents or disclosures, over two hundred publications and presentations at national or international events. He has received over one hundred national and international awards including the following prestigious awards: Outstanding Indian American (Engineering) Award, Distinguished Virginia Tech Alumnus (ISA), Outstanding University of Florida Alumni (MSE), Siemens Award, TMS Young Leader Award, Virginia Tech Outstanding Leader Award, Virginia Tech Paul Torgerson Doctoral Research Excellence Award, Virginia Tech Outstanding Service Commendation Award, Virginia Tech Outstanding Student Award, NITW Sri Kabadi Subalu Medal and the NITW Alumni Association Gold Medal (Valedictorian and best student). Dr. Manjooran is the only alumni of NITW who has received 2 of 3 awards presented at - since the University was founded in 1959. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame at Virginia Tech - the Virginia Tech Academy of Engineering Excellence. Out of more than including 80,000 living alumni from the college of engineering, he is one of only 185 individuals to receive this pinnacle honor, recognizing sustained excellence and lasting impact in the field, since the university was founded in 1872.
Dr. Manjooran is a well-recognized global leader in energy and healthcare, and an expert in materials and nanotechnology with over three decades of leadership and technical experience. He holds a global position of prominence in energy and healthcare, as well as in technology. During his long career, Dr. Manjooran has served in multiple leadership and technical roles in industry and academia globally. He is well known for his contributions for increasing energy efficiency, targeted drug delivery for healthcare, making the planet greener and building organizations. Dr. Manjooran is based at Windermere, Florida. He enjoys reading, tennis, golf and water sports in his free time.