In an announcement, the academy said Speer was selected for his work on developing the quenching and partitioning process. He is to be formally inducted later this year.

The academy said Speer is among 86 U.S. engineers chosen this year to receive what is among the profession’s top distinctions.

“Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature and to the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education," it said.

Speer, an internationally recognized metallurgist, has taught at the Colorado School of Mines since 1997 and directs its Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center. Prior to that, he spent more than a decade at Bethlehem Steel Corp.’s Homer Research Laboratories, where he was involved in product research, customer and operations support and research management.

Speer holds a doctorate in physical metallurgy from the University of Oxford and has authored and contributed to numerous AIST technical publications. He is a winner of the Tadeusz Sendzimir Memorial Medal and delivered the J. Keith Brimacombe Memorial Lecture at AISTech 2018. He also is the immediate past president of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) and is a recipient of the AIST Benjamin F. Fairless Award (AIME).