Stevens professor Yazici dies
Dr. Rahmi Yazici, a Research Professor of Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and a Senior Scientist in Stevens’ Highly Filled Materials Institute, died of lung cancer on Feb. 7, 2000. A native of Turkey, he was 51 years old.
A memorial gathering took place on Feb. 11, 2000, at 5 p.m. in the DeBaun Auditorium of Edwin A Stevens Building on the Stevens campus. Everyone is welcome. A dinner followed in the Faculty Club at 6 p.m.
Dr. Yazici’s major contributions at Stevens included his work as a co-investigator on several research projects funded by more than $15 million over the last eight years.
He worked primarily with energetic materials (such as solid rocket fuels and propellants), although his research also included work with materials as diverse as chocolate, soap, disposable diaper lining materials and pharmaceuticals.
In addition, he loved sailing and spending time with students. He was the faculty advisor for the student organization known as the Stevens Yacht Club.
Dr. Yazici held a B.E./diploma in metallurgical engineering from Istanbul Technical University, a Master of Science degree in solid state science from Penn State University, and a Ph.D. in mechanics and materials science from Rutgers University. Upon receiving his Ph.D. from Rutgers, he spent two years as a research associate at Rutgers and Stevens working on the physical vapor deposition of composition modulated thin metallic films, and the development of computer-aided vapor deposition technique and applications to composite ceramic coatings.
Dr. Yazici joined the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Stevens in 1984 as an assistant professor (1984-1990) and continued as a research associate professor (1990-1992). In the department, he worked on processing and evaluation of ceramic coatings and carbon/carbon composites by metal organic deposition and pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, plasma-sprayed hydroxylapatite coatings, fiber-reinforced composites (Gr/Al), SiC whisker-reinforced metal-matrix composites, ceramic filled polymer composites and development of various X-ray techniques. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Materials, Materials Engineering Design, Mechanical Behavior of Solids, Crystallography and Diffraction, Materials Laboratory, Special Problems in Diffraction, and Materials Science. He also developed and introduced graduate courses on Composite Materials and Advanced Methods Processing Techniques.
On December 15, 1992, Dr. Yazici joined Stevens’ Highly Filled Materials Institute (HFMI) as a Senior Scientist. HFMI is a unique research center at Stevens that specializes in materials with very high degree of solid fill, including various energetic materials, ceramics, magnetics, batteries, soaps, food products and electronic encapsulation materials. At HFMI, Dr. Yazici excelled in developing and introducing various X-ray diffraction techniques to solve important Department of Defense and corporate challenges and problems. In projects funded by Strategic Defense Initiative, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Army, Naval Surface Warfare Center, DURIP, Thiokol, Alliant-TechSystems, Hershey, Dexter Electronic Materials, Kimberly-Clark and Allied-Signal, he developed various novel X-ray techniques to investigate and quantitatively map various microstructural distributions.
His major contributions were the development of three X-ray techniques that have revolutionized how researchers at Stevens can analyze and characterize materials. One of these allows researchers to determine the concentrations of the ingredients of a formulation and the statistics of their spatial distribution ("Degree of Mixedness Analysis Method of Stevens"). Another makes it possible to quantitatively determine the particle size distribution of crystalline particles suspended in a material without the need to isolate the particles ("XAPS: X-ray analysis for particle size"). The third, "Computer Aided Rocking Curve Analyzer (CARCA)," is a novel method for determining internal strain and defect analysis in materials. These unique techniques were successfully applied and demonstrated with materials such as solid rocket fuels, explosives, electronic encapsulation materials, composite diaper linings and pharmaceuticals. Stevens is currently pursuing their commercialization.
Dr. Yazici had authored or co-authored more than 55 papers and book chapters with his students and colleagues at Stevens. He also was the assistant editor of the International Center for Diffraction Data (1978-1982), the chairman of the New Jersey Section of the Materials Society of AIME in 1990, and the organizer of various conferences. He consulted for a number of corporations including DuPont, Naval Research Center, Allied Corp., Johnson and Johnson, Raritan River Steel Co., GM, 3M, Hyatt Cohn Corp., Kemp Industries, Osteonics, and the Kearfott Division of the Singer Corp.
Dr. Yazici is survived by his mother Ms. Fatma Yazici, brother Levent, sister Necla and son Dostum.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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