Amiya Mukherjee

Amiya Mukherjee was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He earned a B.S. in geology and physics from the University of Calcutta in 1954, an M.S. in physical metallurgy from the University of Sheffield in 1959, and a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1962 under William Hume-Rothery. Following postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley's Department of Mineral Technology, positions as a research metallurgist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and senior scientist at Battelle Memorial Institute, Mukherjee joined UC Davis in 1966 as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He single-handedly founded the materials science program, developing and teaching 14 new courses and establishing the official curriculum in 1969. Promoted to associate professor in 1967 and full professor in 1970, he contributed to the program's growth into the Materials Science Division and later the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, which became the independent Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2016. Mukherjee served as a visiting professor at institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Max Planck Institute, and universities in Japan, Russia, and India, and held roles on various UC Davis committees such as the College of Engineering Library Committee and Academic Planning Council.

Mukherjee's research focused on processing, characterization, mechanical and physical properties, failure mechanisms, high-temperature creep deformation, superplasticity, nanocrystalline materials, nanoceramics, intermetallics, metallic glasses, and carbon nanotube-reinforced composites. He authored over 700 publications and held 10 patents, with key works including 'Low-temperature superplasticity in nanostructured nickel and metal alloys' (1999, 1420 citations), 'Single-wall carbon nanotubes as attractive toughening agents in alumina-based nanocomposites' (2003, 1243 citations), 'Dislocation processes in the deformation of nanocrystalline aluminium by molecular-dynamics simulation' (2002, 1206 citations), 'High strain rate superplasticity in a friction stir processed 7075 Al alloy' (1999, 1171 citations), and 'Experimental correlations for high-temperature creep' (1968, 1163 citations). His achievements earned international accolades such as the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award (twice, 1988 and 1997), University of Tokyo Centennial Gold Medal (1990), Bochvar Medal in Metal Physics from University of Moscow (1996), Institute Medal from Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (1997), and Materials Research Society Fellow (2012). At UC Davis, he received the Outstanding Teacher-at-Large Award (1975), Distinguished Teaching Award (1978), ASM International’s Albert Easton White Distinguished Teaching Award (1992), UC Foundation Prize for Distinguished Teaching and Scholarly Achievement (2003), and Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award (2005). Mukherjee mentored generations of students, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and materials applications, remaining active post-retirement in 2007 until his passing in 2021.

Professional Email: akmukherjee@ucdavis.edu