Newswise — It did not take long for ASM Past President Dr. Raymond Decker, FASM, Chairman of the ASM Materials Education Foundation Board of Trustees for 2009, to show enthusiastic leadership in his new position.
During the fall ASM Foundation Board meeting in Pittsburgh, Dr. Decker and his wife, Mary, surprised the assembled Trustees by announcing a personal pledge of $100,000 to support the educational outreach efforts of the ASM Foundation.
"Mary and I are delighted to invest in America's future through the Foundation's expanded training of high school teachers in materials science, and the ongoing excellence of ASM's industry-leading Materials Camps for students and teachers," Dr. Decker said.
Their personal pledge will help to finance expansion plans by the ASM Foundation to improve the technical knowledge of high school science teachers about materials and to drive the development of stand-alone materials science courses for pre-college students.
Dr. Decker is Chief Technical Officer and Treasurer for Thixomat, Inc., based in Ann Arbor., and an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan. He served as President of ASM International in 1987 and has received numerous awards from ASM and other materials societies. He was most recently honored this fall at the International Superalloys Symposium by his colleagues, including ASM Past President and past Foundation Board Chair Dr. Donald Muzyka, FASM.
This is Dr. Decker's second time on the ASM Foundation Board, and he will serve as Chairman of the Board for the next two years.
" The very generous pledge made by Ray and Mary Decker will rank among the 10 largest contributions ever received by the ASM Foundation," said Charles R. Hayes, ASM Foundation Executive Director. "This will serve to motivate others to follow their example of leadership through significant personal financial investment."
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