The MatSE External Advisory Board (EAB) welcomes two new members, Melissa Hockstad and Amit Das.
Hockstad is president and chief executive officer of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI), the leading association representing the $60 billion U.S. cleaning product supply chain. She is responsible for the overall leadership of ACI including advocacy, science and research, communications, sustainability, and business growth. She
currently serves on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers–Council of Manufacturing Associations. Hockstad received a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Penn State in 1998 and a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from the University of Virginia.
“I am grateful for my time at Penn State, and I am honored to be able to contribute to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in this capacity,” said Hockstad. “I look forward to bringing my perspective to advise the department on current trends as well as future areas of opportunity within the field of materials science and engineering.”
Das is the director of new product development at State of the Art, Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. The company manufactures high reliability chip resistors for mission critical applications and has been in business for more than fifty years. Das has been in this role for nineteen years, and he has helped the company develop several new products and processes. He has used the characterization tools available at Penn State’s Materials Characterization Lab (MCL) to improve properties of existing chip resistors, as well as for the development of new resistors with unique properties. He has more than twenty U.S. patents and has presented at several conferences. Das received his master’s degree in 1985 and doctoral degree in 1988, both in solid state science from Penn State. Das also earned
his MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Many great faculty members in the field of materials science at Penn State have been instrumental in the foundation for my career,” said Das. “This board membership gives me an opportunity to give something back.”
The EAB is a select group of representatives from industry, government agencies, academia, and the profession who advise the department on academic issues, current trends, and future directions in engineering.