Rate My Professor Atakan Peker

Atakan Peker is a Research Professor at the Applied Sciences Laboratory of Washington State University in Spokane, a position he has held since joining the Institute for Shock Physics' Applied Sciences Laboratory in August 2007. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the California Institute of Technology in 1994, completing his thesis under the supervision of Prof. W. L. Johnson on the development of bulk metallic glass alloys, during which he discovered the Zr-Ti base Vitreloy series, considered the most processable bulk metallic glasses to date. Prior to his doctoral studies, he received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1989.

Following his Ph.D., Dr. Peker joined Liquidmetal Technologies, where he advanced through various capacities, culminating as Vice President of Technology. At Liquidmetal, he led research projects sponsored by commercial companies and Department of Defense agencies, including the initiation of fabrication methods for bulk metallic glass/tungsten composites for Kinetic Energy Penetrator applications, which secured over $8 million in DoD funding. He also managed corporate intellectual property and collaborative research with institutes worldwide. Dr. Peker is the inventor or co-inventor of over 30 issued or pending patents covering commercial products that generated over $40 million in sales in the last five years as of his profile. His research specializes in the development of advanced materials and their applications, particularly structural uses of bulk metallic glass and its composites, including studies of mechanical and dynamic properties, chemical and corrosion properties, and net-shape forming. He focuses on developing, processing, and characterizing novel alloys and composites for client-specific applications. Key publications include 'A Highly Processable Metallic Glass: Zr41.25Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22.5' with W. L. Johnson in Applied Physics Letters (1993, volume 63, page 2342). Notable patents encompass 'Beryllium Bearing Amorphous Metallic Alloys Formed By Low Cooling Rates' (U.S. Patent No. 5288344, 1994), 'Method of Forming Molded Articles of Amorphous Alloy with High Elastic Limit' (U.S. Patent No. 6875293, 2005), and 'Encapsulated Ceramic Armor' with S. Collier (U.S. Patent No. 7157158, 2007). Dr. Peker's contributions have advanced the commercialization and application of amorphous alloys in structural and defense contexts.