Professor Seetharaman has held a number of research posts and visiting Professor and Chair positions and received numerous awards for his work. His research and teaching interests lie in Materials for Clean Energy Processes and Materials Processing through Clean Energy.

Professor Seetharaman’s experience will be of vital importance to Swansea University’s new Steel and Metals Institute which was opened by the First Minister of Wales earlier this month.

Welcoming his appointment Professor Seetharaman said: “I am delighted to take on this part time position at Swansea University, and be part of the exciting growth that is happening in the area of steel research.”

Professor Seetharaman received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Metallurgy and his undergraduate degree from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden in Materials Science. 

Sridhar has held a number of strategic research posts:-

• In 2017, he was appointed Professor and Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives with the College of Applied Science and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.
• In 2016, Sridhar served with the US Department of Energy as a Senior Technical Advisor.
• 2013 to 2016 Sridhar was the Tata Steel / RAEng Joint Chair for Research Into Low Carbon Materials Technology and Director of Materials strategy for the HMV Catapult at Warwick Manufacturing Group(WMG), where he set up the Advanced Steel Research Centre.  He initiated research programmes on nano-precipitate hardened cold rolled sheet, low density steels and heat and materials recovery from cooling slags.

Previously, Sridhar was POSCO Professor at Carnegie Mellon University,the co-director of the Industry-University Consortium, Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research (CISR) and an NETL Faculty Fellow working on materials for fossil fuel power.

Sridhar is a visiting Professor at USTB in China, and honorary Professor at the University of Warwick. He also holds the Brahm Prakash Visiting Chair at IISC in India.

Professor Seetharaman has graduated over 25 doctoral students, and published over 180 journal papers in the areas of: secondary refining, casting and mold slags, coal gasification, oxidation and  hot-shortness.

He has received numerous awards for his work:-

• Best Paper in the 2013 Rolling Conference of IAS,
• Marcus Grossman Award (2003) from ASM,
• Charles H. Herty Award (2001) from ISS,
• The Spriggs Phase Equilibrium Award (2012) from ACERS
• Twice recipient of the  Jerry Silver Award (2013 and 2017) from AIST
• Friedrich Willhelm Bessel Research Prize from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation
• US National Science Foundation Career Award, both for his general contributions in research
• Recently named the TMS 2019 Extraction & Processing Division Distinguished Lecturer
• Recognized by the Benjamin Teare Teaching Award by Carnegie Institute of Technology,
•  Philbrook Prize by the MSE department at Carnegie Mellon University
•  Recipient of the 2011 J.F. Elliott Lecturer Award for AIST.

He is the editor for AIST Transactions and an associate editor for Metallurgical and Metals Transactions A, B and E.  He is also on the International Advisory Board for Steel Research International and has served in that role for ISIJ International.

Professor Seetharaman is also one of four industry experts who co-authored a report, published in 2016, which stated that the UK steel industry could have a very bright future, and could once again become a world leader, but only if the UK government moves fast to support innovation. Link to the press notice which highlighted the findings of the report:

http://www.swansea.ac.uk/media-centre/news-archive/2016/uksteelindustrycanflourishbutonlyifgovernmentmakesrightdecisions-report.php

Swansea – 21st century steel innovation

Steel is a 21st century industry, high-tech and highly-skilled.  It is essential for many of tomorrow’s technologies.

Swansea University researchers work closely with the industry, on areas such as solar energy, algae to reduce emissions, and producing steel for the next generation of cars.

The familiar image of steelmaking is of blast furnaces and chimneys.   Yet the modern steel industry also requires the lab, the lecture theatre and the latest research facilities, where materials can be tested and experts trained.

This is where Swansea University and its partners have played a crucial role over the past 20 years, as part of the research infrastructure supporting the steel industry across south Wales.  Indeed, the University's links with the metal industries stretch back further, as it was founded to help meet the needs of industry in a region long famous for its expertise in metals. 

The University, which is situated across the bay from the giant Port Talbot steelworks, is home to steel experts and testing facilities, including the newly-opened Steels and Metals Institute.  

Swansea and steel - in numbers:

200 – approximate number of steel industry engineers trained at Swansea University via schemes like the Materials Academy

Over £1million a year – savings at the Port Talbot steel plant thanks to a new technique for stirring in the furnace

40 years – length of warranty Tata was able to offer on products treated with new anti-corrosion coatings developed with Swansea University

Pictures:  21st century steel - Swansea research on tomorrow's technologies

Find out about Swansea University's work with the steel industry