AMES, Iowa – Iver Anderson, senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, has been selected to receive the 2007 Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award by the Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division of The Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society.

Anderson is only the second person selected for the award, which will be presented at the TMS Annual Meeting March 9-13 in New Orleans. The award, which is presented based on a lengthy nomination and peer review process, honors Anderson specifically for his development of a tin-silver-copper solder alloy that has been widely adopted by the electronics industry to remove harmful lead from the environment. To date, the patented lead-free solder has been licensed by some 60 companies worldwide and has generated more than $16 million in royalties for Ames Lab and Iowa State University.

The award cites Anderson "for his innovative ideas, his excellent research, his continuing scholarship and the influence he has had on the transition to Pb-free manufacturing."

“I feel quite honored to receive this award,” Anderson said, “particularly because it comes from peers in my “home” society (TMS), many of whom have been involved in lead-free solder development.”