George F Vander Voort, the President and Consultant of Vander Voort Consulting and Consultant for Buehler Ltd, was recently chosen to receive the title Top Metallurgical Expert of the Decade given by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP).
While inclusion with the International Association of Top Professionals is an honor, only one expert in Metallurgical Services is selected for this distinction. Mr. Vander Voort is being recognized for dedicating nearly six decades of professional experience to Metallography, Materials Science, and Failure Analysis. George will receive this recognition while attending IAOTP’s Awards Gala at the magnificent Opryland Hotel in Nashville in December 2024.
Before beginning his professional career path, Mr. Vander Voort received his Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from Drexel Institute of Technology in 1967 and his Master of Science Degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Lehigh University in 1974.
Mr. Vander Voort is a talented, passionate, dynamic, results-driven leader. He has demonstrated success as a Consultant and Specialist in all aspects of Metallographic Analysis & Research and in every position he has ever held. He has an impressive range of experience in various roles, such as being a Research Engineer for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, a Supervisor of Metal Physics, Materials Characterization & Microstructural Analysis, and Mechanical Testing for the Carpenter Technology Corporation, and a Director for Research and Technology for Buehler Ltd. He was a professor of physical metallurgy for Pennsylvania State University taught in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for 9 years and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He is widely recognized by his colleagues as one of the most influential and accomplished Metallurgical Research Engineers in the world during his era. He is regarded by his peers as one of the world’s most influential and best Metallurgical Research Engineers of his time. His textbook, Metallography: Principles and Practice, is used worldwide.
George is well-recognized for his work in failure analysis, both through publications and investigations. He contributed significantly to the ASM Handbook series volumes on Metallography and Microstructures, Fractography, Failure Analysis, and Materials Characterization. He is a court-certified expert on failure analysis and has been involved in numerous cases. In 1993, he was requested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review the microscopy studies on the lower head of the Three-Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor, which suffered a catastrophic accident in March 1979. The studies were performed by personnel at Argonne National Laboratory and at Idaho Falls National Engineering Laboratory. The review was prompted by disputes about how hot and close to meltdown the lower head got during the incident. George critiqued the work, obtained a set of specimens, and showed how the exposure temperatures could be determined with much higher precision using quantitative metallography and selective etching. More recently, he has worked with a FEMA board member and several faculty members at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to examine structural steel beams from building 7 and from buildings 1 and 2 of the World Trade Center after the 9/11/01 attack to determine why building 7 collapsed, as it was not impacted but only caught on fire from falling debris, and why the structural steel beams were so heavily attacked to perforation. George has also studied several failures involving semi-submersible oil exploration rigs and permanently installed drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, pressure vessel failures, and soldered pipe joint failures. He studied a lampshade frame covered by human skin, which is believed to have been made at the Buchenwald concentration camp, for Hoggard Films to determine when it was made. The 60-minute documentary made for National Geographic TV was broadcast on 29 September 2012.
Throughout his remarkable career, Mr. Vander Voort has received numerous awards and accolades and has been recognized worldwide for his outstanding leadership and commitment to the profession. He was interviewed exclusively on TIP Radio by the IAOTP team. In 2020, he was honored with the Distinguished Life Membership Award from ASM International and the prestigious IAOTP Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Vander Voort has received prestigious accolades for his exceptional work in the field. In 2021, he was honored as the Consultant of the Decade by IAOTP, and in 2022, he was named Metallurgical Expert of the Year. His remarkable contributions also led to his induction into IAOTP’s Hall of Fame. He was honored as IAOTP’s Top Consultant of the Year in 2019. Mr. Vander Voort’s achievements have been prominently featured on two renowned billboards: the Famous Reuters Billboard in Times Square and The Planet Hollywood Billboard in Las Vegas. He was awarded Drexel’s Service to Our Profession Award in 2016 and Drexel’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005. He has been featured more than 50 times in 16 editions of Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, International. I am interested in learning about the individuals featured in various prestigious publications such as Who’s Who in Engineering, Who’s Who in Technology Today, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in the World. The September 2009 issue of Practical Metallography was dedicated to celebrating George’s 65th birthday. In 2008, he received the prestigious honor of being named a Distinguished Life Member and Fellow of Alpha Sigma Mu, an honorary scholastic society for materials science majors. He was also elected to their board and held the position of Vice President from 2011 to 2015. In 2006, he was awarded the Roland Mitsche Prize by the Montanuniversität Leoben in Leoben, Austria, for his significant contributions to the field of metallography. He was awarded the IMS Henry Clifton Sorby Award in 2004. He has been honored with the Men of Achievement Distinction for three consecutive years. In 1987, he received the ASTM Award of Merit (Fellow), followed by the ASM International Fellow Award in 1990. Furthermore, he was recognized for his significant contributions in hardness testing with the ASTM E-28 Anthony DeBellis Award. He was awarded the Pierre A. Jacquet – Francis F. Lucas Grand Prize in Metallography in 1992, the Bradley Stoughton Award of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of ASM International in 1993, and the ASTM L.L. Wyman Memorial Award in 1994, among others.
He has served on numerous boards and committees throughout his career. He has delivered 457 lectures and 278 seminars across 42 different countries. Additionally, he has been invited to speak 84 times at 52 ASM Chapters and 74 Universities. He has an impressive list of accomplishments, including being the principal author of 447 publications, editing 18 books, and authoring 32 articles in various editions of the ASM Metals Handbook Series. Additionally, he has created 11 videotapes for the ASM video course Principles of Metallography, wrote 8 ASTM standards, and holds six patents. Mr. Vander Voort’s micrographs have been featured in more than 180 books, magazines, newsletters, brochures, and calendars, either on their covers or within their pages. He has taught 287 courses, including 87 one-week courses for ASM’s Metals Engineering Institute, 117 courses for Buehler, and 82 courses for various other societies, companies, and universities. George is an active member of the American Society for Metals (now ASMI, where the “I” stands for International). He has also served on the executive committee of the Lehigh Valley Chapter. He has previously been a member of the MEI and the Academy Committees. Additionally, George has held important positions within the organization, such as chairing the Technical Books Committee and serving as secretary and vice chairman of the Publications Council. He currently serves on several committees, including the Technical Books Committee, the Handbook Committee, the Events Committee, and the International Committee. George is a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and has served as the chairman of E.04.14. During his tenure, he played a crucial role in developing and writing eight standards for manual and automated quantitative metallographic measurements. In addition, Mr. Vander Voort served as the chair for three international symposia organized by ASTM E-4. George is a member of various prestigious organizations, including the International Society for Stereology, the Polish Society for Stereology (where he holds an honorary membership), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde (German Materials Society), among others.
Looking back, Mr. Vander Voort attributes his success to his education, the mentors he has had along the way, and staying passionate in his research and work. He has two children. When not working, George enjoys foreign travel, food and wine, watercolor painting, photography, hiking and backpacking. His wife, Dr. Elena (Manilova) Vander Voort, is a physical metallurgist and electron microscopy expert on high-temperature alloys with 30 years of service at the Pulzonuv Central Boiler and Turbine Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the Failure Analysis and Life Extension department. For the future, he hopes that his research and continuous efforts will enlighten and inspire people to pursue a career in this industry.
To view his TIP Radio interview, please click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nL69iNF0D8
About IAOTP
The International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) is an international boutique networking organization that handpicks the world’s finest, most prestigious top professionals from different industries. These top professionals are given an opportunity to collaborate, share their ideas, be keynote speakers, and to help influence others in their fields. This organization is not a membership that anyone can join. You must be asked by the President or be nominated by a distinguished honorary member after a brief interview.
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