Calvin L. White

Calvin Lamont White was born in Chico, CA and raised in the small mountain town of Portola, about 60 miles Northwest of Lake Tahoe. He attended the University of California at Davis, where he majored in Mechanical Engineering; and where he met and married Elsie Jean Mertens, his wife of 50 years. Upon graduating from UC Davis in 1969, Calvin attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in Metallurgy and Materials Science, and met Dale Stein who was engaged in pioneering research on impurity segregation at grain boundaries in metals and alloys using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES).

When Dale accepted the opportunity to head the Metallurgical Engineering Department at Michigan Tech, Calvin and Elsie moved to Houghton so that Calvin could pursue his Ph.D. under Dale’s direction. After completing his dissertation on the thermodynamics of sulfur segregation to grain boundaries in a nickel-base superalloy, Calvin joined the Metals and Ceramics Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where he continued research on segregation of trace elements to interfaces in a wide range of alloy systems, including the discovery and description of the “boron effect” active in nickel aluminides.  Calvin, Elsie and their son Calvin Frederick moved to the Copper Country in 1986 when Calvin joined the Metallurgical Engineering Department at Michigan Tech as a Professor. He continued research on segregation at interfaces, and initiated research programs in welding, fatigue of aluminum alloys, and corrosion, and hydrogen embrittlement. Calvin served as Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering department from 1996-2002, and retired from teaching in 2014.

Since retirement  he and Elsie divide their time between their winter home in California and their summer cottage at Lake Medora near Copper Harbor. He remains active as a Research Professor in the MSE Department, and consults part time. He and Elsie enjoy travel and visiting with friends and relatives.