William C. Johnson

William C. Johnson
  • BS Applied Physics 1976
  • MS Metallurgical and Materials Engineering 1978
  • PhD Metallurgical and Materials Engineering 1980

Dr. Bill Johnson is currently a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Virginia. He is a renowned scholar in the general area of diffusional phase transformation, especially in the influence of compositional and epitaxial strains on the thermodynamic description of crystals, the evolution of microstructure in thin films and bulk alloys, and the effect of stress on the kinetics of phase transformations. He has held several prestigious visiting scientist or faculty appointments at international institutions including Centre d'Etude Chimie Metallurgique CNRS (France), the Hermann-Fottinger Institut fur Thermo- und Fluiddynamik, Technische Universität Berlin, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Zurich Switzerland, and Institut fur Metallforschung - Metallphysik, Technische Universitat Berlin. Prior to his UVA appointment, he was a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University. He began his career as a post-doctoral researcher at the National Bureau of Standards in Gaithersburg, MD.

Dr. Johnson has been the recipient of several awards over the course of his academic career. He has been awarded several teaching recognitions at the University of Virginia at the Department, College, and University levels. He received the Outstanding Paper Award from Acta Metallurgica et Materialia in 1990, and a Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in 1989. He was awarded the Henry Marion Howe Medal in 1988 for the most outstanding publication in a joint ASM/TMS journal. In 1988, he received the Bradley Stoughton Outstanding Young Faculty Award from ASM, and Michigan Tech’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award. He received Carnegie-Mellon’s Ladd Award in 1984 for excellence in research, and the Robert Lansing Hardy Gold Medal of TMS-AIME as the most promising young metallurgist under 30 years of age.

Dr. Johnson was a member of MSE’s External Advisory Board from 2000-2008. He was inducted into the Academy of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Michigan Tech in 2000.

William Craig Johnson, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering