TomKelly

MAS Involvement:

  • Member since 1985
  • 2008 MAS Presidential Science Award
  • MAS Director (2010-2012)
  • Chair, Finance Committee (2011-2013)
  • MAS President (2014-2016)

Thomas F. Kelly received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with highest honors from Northeastern University in 1977. He received a Ph.D. in Material Science from M.I.T in 1981.

Tom joined the faculty of the Department of Metallurgical and Mineral Engineering of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in January 1983. He was a Full Professor from 1994 until his departure in 2001.

Tom founded Imago Scientific Instruments (now part of Cameca Instruments, Inc.) to commercialize the atom-probe microscope: a technology that enables researchers to analyze materials such as computer chips at the atomic scale. His invention, the Local Electrode Atom Probe, or LEAP, captures an atom-by-atom “picture” of a material and renders that image on a computer screen in 3-D.