Dr. Thomas Lograsso is the Director of the Critical Materials Institute (CMI). He has been a member of its Leadership team since the inception of CMI, leading the Developing Substituting Focus area. He has been a materials scientist at the Ames National Laboratory since 1988. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Lograsso’s background is in solidification physics, and he has applied his background to the synthesis and design of new novel materials in single crystalline forms. His efforts have made significant contributions to the understanding of the underlying physics and functionalities in a broad range of materials systems, including structural intermetallic alloys; quasicrystalline compounds; ferromagnetic shape memory alloys; giant magnetocaloric compounds; rare earth-transition metals intermetallics. Tom is a co-inventor of a rare-earth free substitute, Fe-Ga, for the magnetostrictive alloy, Terfenol-D (contains the critical elements Tb and Dy), used in high precision machining operations for small engine components and as an ultrasonic driver in petroleum exploration.
Besides Tom’s research interests, he enjoys spending time with family, golf, and watching Formula 1 racing.