Researchers/Technician from U.K. and Canada honored
with 2003 Arch T. Colwell Merit Award

WARRENDALE, Pa. (July 27, 2005) - Douglas Boomer, John Hunter, and David Castle were selected to receive the 2003 ArchT. Colwell Merit Award. The award was presented at the Honors Convocation Luncheon during the SAE 2005 World Congress in Detroit, Michigan on April 12, 2005.

This award, established in 1965, annually recognizes the authors of papers of outstanding technical or professional merit presented at a meeting of the Society or any of its sections during the calendar year. Papers are judged primarily for their value as new contributions to existing knowledge of mobility engineering. The award was funded by the late Arch T. Colwell, who served SAE in many capacities for nearly 50 years, including a term as president in 1941. Eleven papers were selected for this year’s honor; among them is Boomer, Hunter and Castle’s paper, "A New Approach for Robust High-Productivity Resistance Spot Welding of Aluminum" (SAE 2003-01-0575).

Douglas Boomer
Mr. Boomer is a joining technology specialist at the U.K.-based Innoval Technology, an independent materials consultancy formed as a buy-out from Alcan’s Banbury Research Centre. He provides expertise to clients in the joining of materials, particularly aluminum, with a special emphasis on the automotive industry. In addition, working closely with the Manufacturing Centre at Warwick University in the UK, he provides support to the Premier Automotive Research & Development program, assisting Jaguar and Land Rover. Previously, he worked for various divisions of Alcan in the U.K. and the U.S. He has been the recipient of the A. F. Davies Silver Medal for a publication on characterization of the spot welding process. Douglas has published more than 25 technical papers and is an associate of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining, and a member of both the American Welding Society and the Society of Automotive Engineers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering from Queen Mary College, University of London.

John Hunter
Dr. Hunter is currently group leader for surfaces and innovations at the Novelis Global Technology Centre in Kingston, Ontario. Since 1994, he has worked on various aspects of aluminum coil finishing (cleaning, pretreatment and lubrication), corrosion, adhesive bonding, resistance spot welding, and repair. He is the principal inventor on five U.S. patents and has published several papers in the fields of electrochemistry, corrosion, and automotive materials. John holds a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy from Manchester University in England and a doctorate from Oxford University.

David Castle
Mr. Castle is a composite R & D technician with Renault F1, where for the past two years he has been working as part of a Formula One Motor Racing Team performing analytical work, such as Dynamic Material Analysis, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Thermal Material Analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis. Prior to joining Renault F1, David worked at Alcan International for 14 years in research and development in the Resistance Spot Welding Group.