Natasha Vermaak, associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics Department, was named the 2026 Acta Materialia Mary Fortune Award winner.
The Mary Fortune Award honors demonstrated global leadership, technical excellence, outreach, and mentoring from academic, industry and public sector leaders.
Vermaak was presented the award and medal at the 155th TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition, in San Diego, California, March 18, 2026.
Several of Vermaak’s Thermostructural Group’s research articles were included in a special issue, 2026 Acta Materialia Awards and Medals, that was published as a collection of articles from the 2026 award winners and medalists—free to read and download for six months (until Fall 2026).
Acta Materialia, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to disseminating the knowledge of science and engineering of materials and it represents 36 professional societies worldwide. Its dissemination mission is primarily achieved by publishing, in collaboration with Elsevier, high quality journals covering all aspects of the multidisciplinary field of materials science and engineering, including: Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, Acta Biomaterialia, and Materialia.