U of T metallurgist elected Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum (CIM)

Professor Torstein Utigard inducted into distinguished ranks of honoured professional institute

Utigard, Torstein A.

Torstein A. Utigard, Professor & Gerarld R. Heffernan Chair in Materials Processing

October 24, 2011

Professor Torstein A. Utigard was elected as Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum (FCIM) at the 50th Anniversary Conference of Metallurgists (COM2011) awards banquet, held in Montréal, Quebec, on October 3. Established in 1986, CIM Council instituted its Fellowship Program to recognize members who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to the mining, metallurgical, or petroleum industries. Dr. Utigard was one of eight Fellowship inductees into the Institute this year.

Professor Utigard is the holder of the Gerald R. Heffernan Chair in Materials Processing at the University of Toronto. He has established an international reputation as an outstanding researcher in the science and technology of pyrometallurgical processing of non-ferrous metals. With over 150 publications, 11 patents and 3 others pending, Torstein Utigard has pioneered numerous developments pertaining to the physical chemistry aspects of metals refining. He has supervised close to 40 researchers, played a major role within professional societies and facilitated international collaborations between industry and academia. At the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Toronto, and through many short courses in industry and various symposia, Professor Utigard has trained numerous undergraduate and graduate students as well as engineers and operators in the areas of mineral processing, thermodynamics, kinetics, and extraction of metals. In all of these activities he has been an ambassador par excellence for the engineering profession.

In the same evening, Dr. Utigard’s Fellowship induction was also paired with a Best Paper Award, Non-Ferrous Pyrometallurgy category, for a paper titled “Fluid Bed Roasting of Nickel-Copper Matte,” published in the Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No.2 pp.lSS-162, 2010.

“I am very happy that Professor Utigard’s many years of sustained excellence in research and teaching is being recognized by the CIM,” says Professor Jun Nogami, Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering. “I hope that all of our faculty members, as well as the generations of alumni that he has taught and advised will join me in congratulating him.”