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AIST Mourns the Passing of Dr. Kent D. Peaslee

05/18/2013 - Dr. Kent D. Peaslee, the F. Kenneth Iverson Chair of Steelmaking Technology and Curators’ Teaching Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, passed away unexpectedly on 17 May 2013 at age 56.

Dr. Kent D. Peaslee, the F. Kenneth Iverson Chair of Steelmaking Technology and Curators’ Teaching Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, passed away unexpectedly on 17 May 2013 at age 56.
Dr. Peaslee was the 2012–2013 president of the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST). He was a member of the AIST Executive Committee since 2007 and also served as the chair of the AIST Foundation University & Industry Relations Roundtable from 2005 through 2011.
Peaslee joined the Missouri S&T faculty as an assistant professor in 1994. He was promoted to associate professor in 2000 and professor in 2005. He was named a Curators’ Teaching Professor in 2006 and became the university’s first Iverson Chair in 2007. The chair was established through a $2 million gift from Nucor.
In 2007, Peaslee received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt. He also received the 2008 AIST Brimacombe Memorial Lecture Award for his lecture entitled, “Opportunities and Challenges in Steel Manufacturing — Engineering a Brighter Future,” and the 2008 AIST Environmental Technology Division Best Paper Award for “The Use of Steelmaking Slag for Mineralogical Sequestration of CO2.” At Missouri S&T, he received numerous Faculty Excellence Awards and Outstanding Teaching Awards, as well as the Dean’s Teaching Scholar Award. He also received the Class of 1942 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Miner Alumni Association.
Peaslee earned a bachelor of science degree in metallurgical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1978 and worked for 13 years in a variety of technical and management positions in the steel industry, including Bayou Steel in La Place, La., Border Steel Mills in El Paso, Texas, Raritan River Steel in Perth Amboy, N.J., and CF&I Steel in Pueblo, Colo.
He attended graduate school at Missouri S&T, where he earned a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering in 1994. Peaslee was a manufacturing and process metallurgist with research interests in waste and metals recycling, steelmaking, inclusion engineering, continuous casting, steel manufacturing energy optimization, metal-refractory interactions and environmental aspects of metals manufacturing.
He published more than 90 papers in technical journals and conference proceedings in his fields of interest.
He was a member of the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, American Society of Engineering Educators, American Foundry Society, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi and Kappa Mu Epsilon.
To his AIST friends, Kent will be remembered for his steadfast leadership as a member of the Executive Committee since 2007. He reminded us of the importance of the academic community, students and young professionals to the future of the steel industry. By lending his expertise to the effort, AIST crafted new programs such as the AIST Foundation Junior Faculty Award and our Steel-to-Students program. His efforts to renew the AIST $500,000 Matching Funds Challenge will help to strengthen many of the wonderful programs we already have in place to encourage young people in steel, including the Emerging Leaders Alliance, which is administered by AIST in collaborative partnership with nine other major engineering organizations.
Kent also facilitated our international outreach strategy, with the clear objective to make AIST the global source of knowledge and networking for our members. During Kent’s tenure, AIST programmed in 10 countries, including our BOF Study Tours of Germany, Austria, Belgium and Brazil, our first ever Steel Forum in Italy, and our second AIST International Steel Academy held last December in Turkey. He also taught the AIST Making, Shaping & Treating of Steel™ 101 training course on numerous occasions throughout North America and in Australia.
Kent recognized the need to ensure AIST bolsters its world-class knowledge sharing, not just through our 22 Member Chapters and 29 Technology Committees, but with our online resources such as our new Digital Library that provides AIST members with free access to the world’s largest repository for steel technology. Under his leadership, AIST has also undertaken the replacement of all eight of our websites to ensure this Association is current in an ever-changing world of information technology.
Kent was a forward-thinking person, an active and willing participant, and a good listener. He was a tremendous leader for AIST, and his presence will be missed. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his wife of 37 years, Mary, and to his children and family members.