Louis Schorsch, CEO of Mittal Steel USA and Chairman of the Board of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), presents the AISI Medal Award to Professor and Head of Purdue Calumet's Department of Mechanical Engineering Chenn Zhou, whose research team received the prestigious award for their steel industry research.

Chenn Zhou, Purdue Calumet head and professor of mechanical engineering; David Roldan and Clifford Tetrault, Purdue Calumet engineering master's degree alumni; Yongfu Zhao and Mark Atkinson of the Research & Technology Center of U.S. Steel Corp.; and Hugh E. Crosmun of the Great Lakes Works of U.S. Steel Corp. recently received the esteemed American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Medal Award. 

"I feel honored, and it is very encouraging to our students," Zhou said. "It demonstrates the values of hard work and collaborative team efforts. Our partnerships with people in the steel industry have been very gratifying."

The AISI Medal Award was presented for the paper, "Investigation of Tuyere Nose Failures at U.S. Steel Great Lakes B2 Blast Furnace," at the AISI General Meeting in Boca Raton, Fla.

The AIST Computer Applications Award was presented for the paper, "Evaluation of Internal Conditions in a Blast Furnace Hearting Using a 3-D CFD Model," at AISTech 2006 in Cleveland.

The AISI Medal Award was established in 1927 to perpetuate the memory of the late Elbert H. Gary, AISI founder and first president, and to stimulate improvement in the iron and steel and allied industries. The medal is awarded annually for a technical paper having special merit and importance in connection with the activities and interests of the iron and steel industry.

The AIST Association Computer Applications Best Paper Award., established in 2005, is presented to the author of a paper selected by the AIST Process Automation and Control Technology Division, and judged by the Computer Applications Operating Committee to be the best technical paper submitted.