Thomas Prucha to be honored with Gold Medal at CastExpo 2022

The editor of the world’s leading metalcasting research journal will be presented with the American Foundry Society’s highest honor at CastExpo 2022.

Thomas Prucha, editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Metalcasting (IJMC) and president of Metal Morphasis LLC, is the winner of the 2022 William McFadden Gold Medal. The award honors Prucha’s “outstanding achievements, service, and contributions to the metalcasting industry and his visionary leadership steering the industry toward new technological horizons on the global level.”

Prucha has had a long, distinguished, and influential career in the metalcasting industry. In addition to leading his own consultancy and IJMC – published by AFS and the official research journal of the World Foundry Organization – he served in various technical roles at CMI International, Hayes Lemmerz, and INTERMET Corp. Prucha also worked as Vice President of Technical Services for AFS.

“It’s our honor to present Tom Prucha with the William McFadden Gold Medal. For decades, Tom has dedicated himself to the advancement of metalcasting technology and knowledge-sharing,” said AFS CEO Doug Kurkul. “His support of industry-leading research, coupled with his commitment to sharing his own technical expertise, has broadened the boundaries of metalcasting innovation.”

Prucha has been a key participant in many government-industry and university-industry consortia and projects, including America Makes (National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute), American Metalcasting Consortium, Aluminum Casting Research Center at University of California-Irvine, LIFT, and the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel.

Among his many previous industry awards are the AFS Award of Scientific Merit and the NADCA Nyselius Award for contributions to die casting. In 2021, he was a Hoyt Memorial Lecturer at the virtual Metalcasting Congress.

IJMC continues to flourish under Prucha’s leadership. It experienced a 30 percent increase in manuscript submissions in 2021. The page count of peer-reviewed papers is expected to reach 550 pages in 2022. To learn more about IJMC, click here.

The Gold Medal will be presented to Prucha at CastExpo 2022, April 23-26 in Columbus, Ohio. AFS members wishing to attend the award ceremony may do so by registering for the CastExpo Annual Banquet on April 24. To learn more or to register, click here.