Philip J. Withers

Philip John Withers (born May 1963)^[1] FREng FRS^[10] is the Regius Professor^[11] of Materials in the Materials Science Centre at the University of Manchester.^[12][13][14]

Education

Withers was educated at the University of Cambridge where he was awarded an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences (Physics) followed by a PhD in the metallurgy of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) in 1988.^[15]

Career and research

Following his PhD, Withers was appointed a lecturer at Cambridge before being appointed Professor at the University of Manchester in 1998. His research investigates the application of advanced techniques to follow the behaviour of engineering and natural materials in real time and in 3D.^{[12][16][17][18]}

In 2008 Withers set up the Henry Moseley Manchester X-ray Imaging Facility (MXIF),^[19] which has extensive suites of 3D X-ray Imaging facilities. In 2012, Withers became the inaugural Director of the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials (ICAM) aimed understanding and developing materials across the energy industry.^[20] ICAM is a collaboration between BP, The University of Manchester, The University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.^[20]

With Bill Clyne, he is a co-author of the textbook An Introduction to Metal Matrix Composites.^[21] His research has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).^[22] He has supervised several successful PhD students to completion.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Awards and honours

Withers was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2005 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.^[10][23] In 2014, the University of Manchester was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize, recognising Withers work at the Manchester X-ray Imaging Facility.

References