Education
- B.Sc. Engineering Physics, University of Ife, Nigeria, 1980
- Ph.D. & DIC, Materials Science at Imperial College, University of London, UK, 1986
Background
Dr. Peter N. Kalu, 3M Distinguished Professor and Fulbright Scholar, earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science at Imperial College, University of London, United Kingdom. Prof. Kalu has been teaching, mentoring and carrying out research in Materials Science and Metallurgy at Florida A&M University (FAMU) - Florida State University (FSU), College of Engineering since 1994. Prior to joining FAMU-FSU, he had worked as an Adjunct Professor for the U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Post Graduate School at Monterey, CA and a Senior Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, VA. Prof. Kalu has been involved in various NSF programs for mentoring women and minority students in Materials Science and Engineering. In addition to securing grant money to equip his laboratory with state-of-the-art electron microscopes (3 in all), Prof. Kalu has utilized the Partnership for Research and Education in Materials Science (PREM), a $3 million grant from NSF to mentor several undergraduates and graduates in Materials. His research interests are in advanced materials processing (utilization of novel techniques such as magnets, cassava, etc., in processing) and advanced characterization of metals and alloys including nanocomposites. Prof. Kalu has published over 120 scientific papers.
In August 2009, Prof. Kalu was awarded a one-year Fulbright Fellowship to teach and conduct research in Nigeria. Working with Prof. O. O. Adewoye's research group in Nigeria, we were able to use cassava leave waste (from cassava, which is an indigenous African raw material) to case-harden mild steel. The actual research project was "THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOW-COST SURFACE HARDENED STEEL PROCESSING TECHNIQUES UTILIZING INDIGENOUS RAW MATERIALS". The ultimate goal is to develop an effective case-hardening method that can be commercialized and adaptable for other material processing.
Areas Of Expertise
Application of severe plastic deformation (e.g., wire drawing, swaging, equal channel angular extrusion and friction stir processing) in the grain refinement of materials with the aim to produce bulk nano-grain size materials.
Utilization of high magnetic field, cassava leaves and peels (African indigenous raw materials), etc., in the processing of materials.
Utilization of SEM, TEM, OIM, AFM, EDX, X-ray diffraction and Microtexture in the analysis of materials.
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