Kroll Award
Kroll Zirconium Medal awarded to Prof. Michael Preuss
Michael Preuss, Professor of Metallurgy in the School of Materials, has been awarded the prestigious 2018 William J Kroll Zirconium Medal.
The award recognises outstanding achievement in the field of zirconium research and technology, as well as the championing of future work in this area. The medal will be awarded at the ASTM Symposium on Zirconium in the Nuclear Industry, which Manchester will host in May - the first UK city to do so since 1978.
Professor Preuss is one of the youngest-ever recipients of the medal, which was first awarded in 1975. Zirconium research activity in the UK has increased rapidly since he established the Manchester zirconium technology group, part of the Materials Performance Centre, in 2003.
Anand Garde, Chairman of the Kroll Zirconium Medal Selection Committee, explained in his award letter that Professor Preuss has been recognised both for establishing the zirconium technology group - which is also now leading on a large EPSRC Programme Grant in the area of zirconium/fuel cladding research - and his research leadership in mechanistic understanding of irradiation damage in zirconium alloys and their oxides.
“This achievement doesn’t belong just to me, but is based on the tremendous work and efforts of the whole group here at Manchester over the past 15 years, which forms a key part of a wider UK and international network.”