Joseph R. Lane, Ph.D. ’50, died in May. He was a loyal alumnus of both the University of Illinois and MIT. He was a contributor to the Morris Cohen Professorship and established the Joseph R. Lane Award for Teaching Excellence in DMSE.
At UI, he established a scholarship in honor of his former professor, Earl Eckel, and a lectureship to foster increased collaboration between the MatSE and Chemistry departments. Most recently, he set up a fund to assist UI MatSE students with their travel expenses when they attend conferences.
After receiving his Ph.D., he spent the next five years as the branch head for the Naval Research Laboratory. The majority of his career, 34 years, was spent as a Senior Staff Metallurgist at the National Materials Advisory Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. At the time of his retirement in 1989, he was conducting research on superalloys, refractory metals and aerospace structural materials.
He was a fellow of ASM International.