David E. LaughlinDavid E. Laughlin is the ALCOA Professor of Physical Metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he has taught since 1974. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Electrical and ComputerEngineering Department at CMU.He is the Principal Editor of the Metallurgical and Materials Transactions family of journals of ASM International and TMS. His research has centered on the investigation of the structure of materials by means of transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. He has studied various diffusional phase transformations by detailed analysis of their micro-structure as well as electron diffraction patterns. For the past 25 years he has focused on the investigation of the magnetic properties and microstructure of soft magnets (HITPERM), hard magnets (FePt and CoPt) and magnetic thin films for recording media. He co-chairs the Data Storage Systems Center Magnetic Recording Group. He has taught courses on physical metallurgy, electron microscopy, diffraction techniques, thermodynamics, crystallography, magnetic materials and phase transformations. He is a director of both the X-ray Central Facility and the Electron Optics Central Facility of the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Carnegie Mellon University. He has more than 400 technical publications in the field of phase transformations, physical metallurgy and magnetic materials, and has edited or co-edited eight books and has ten U.S. Patents in the field of magnetic recording. He was elected as an Honorary member of the AIME and is a Fellow of ASM and TMS. Read More Read Less