Dr. Rajiv Mishra, professor of metallurgical engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been named Curators’ Professor of materials science and engineering.

Mishra’s new title will be conferred during Missouri S&T commencement ceremonies Saturday, Dec. 20. The University of Missouri Board of Curators approved the designation at a recent meeting. The professorship is awarded to outstanding scholars with established reputations in their fields of study.

At Missouri S&T, Mishra is the site director for the National Science Foundation’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Friction Stir Processing. In addition, he is a research investigator at the university’s Intelligent Systems Center. He also is the leader of friction stir processing at S&T’s Center for Aerospace Manufacturing.

Mishra, who is responsible for more than 180 publications and four patents, has won numerous Faculty Excellence Awards at Missouri S&T. He has developed a process that makes metals flow like chewing gum at high temperatures. At room temperatures, the metals return to a very strong metallic state.

Mishra earned his Ph.D. in metallurgy at the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom) in 1988. He earned a master’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1985 and a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Rajasthan (India) in 1982.