Distinguished Faculty Lecture: Joseph I. Goldstein
Joseph I. Goldstein, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, will deliver the third Distinguished Faculty Lecture of 2006-07. The event is free and open to the public. A reception follows the talk.
Goldstein’s talk is titled, “Extraterrestrial Metals: New Clues on Asteroids and the Early Solar System.” He says some asteroids contain material that’s 4.65 billion years old – the oldest known samples of the early solar system. The lecture will explore how asteroids form and how they interact with each other to make craters on the moon and the samples collected on Earth. Goldstein will also talk about what asteroids can tell us about the early sun and planets. He will present the latest answers, accompanied by computer simulations from his extraterrestrial materials lab, close-ups of asteroids, and meteorite structures under the microscope. Goldstein will also reveal what engineers can contribute to the fields of cosmochemistry and planetary geology.
Goldstein joined the university in 1993, serving as dean of the College of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering until 2004. He was named Distinguished Professor in 2003.
He came to UMass Amherst from Lehigh University where he served as director of the Electron Optical Laboratory from 1992-93, as R.D. Stout Professor of Materials Science & Engineering from 1990-92, vice president for graduate studies and research from 1987-90 and vice president for research from 1983-87. He was assistant vice president for research at Lehigh from 1979-83, the T.L. Diamond Distinguished Professor of Metallurgy from 1976-83 and professor of materials science and engineering from 1975-93. From 1968-75, he was an assistant and then associate professor in the metallurgy and materials science department at Lehigh.
Goldstein earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and doctorate in metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960, 1962 and 1964, respectively. Goldstein’s expertise and research is in the fields of solid state diffusion and diffusion controlled transformation in metals oxides and coatings, X-ray analysis, scanning electron microscopy and meteorites and lunar samples. An asteroid was named after him in the fall of 2000. Goldstein received the Public Service Award from the UMass system in 2002.
The final two lectures in the series will be given by Sut Jhally, department of communication, Thursday, March 8, and Melinda A. Novak, department of psychology, Monday, April 23.
A reception follows each talk. Faculty members in the series receive a Chancellor’s Medal following their lectures. The Chancellor’s Medal is the highest honor bestowed on individuals for exemplary and extraordinary service to the campus. The lecture series is sponsored by the offices of the chancellor and the provost.
