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Marcel A.J. Somers (1960) received his M.Sc. degree in metallurgy (1985) and his Doctor’s degree (1989) from Delft University of Technology (NL). In 89/90 he was with Philips Center for Materials, Technology and Innovation as section leader in advanced materials characterization. He returned to Delft University of Technology as assistant professor in physical chemistry of the solid state in 90 and was appointed full professor of physical metallurgy at DTU in 97. A red thread through Dr. Somers’ scientific work is gas-metal interactions in surface engineering and gaseous corrosion along with microstructure characterization with microscopy, diffraction and spectroscopy. His work is of fundamental character with a technological importance and spin-off for industrial application. From 2000 to 2020 Marcel Somers has established and led an internationally visible section in Materials Science and Engineering with strong expertise in physical metallurgy, heat treatment, surface engineering, materials characterization and corrosion. Marcel Somers has published more than 320 papers in international scientific and technological journals and conference proceedings. His scientific work has provided the basis for a series of patents, most of which have been implemented industrially. He is co-founder of two spin-out companies in thermochemical surface engineering: Expanite (10) and TRD Surfaces (14). He was awarded several prizes for his research, innovation and teaching achievements: Brandsma prize for the research in his Dr. thesis (89); ASM European Lecturer (99/00); Reinholdt W. Jorck prize (01); DTU's innovation prize (07); Alexander Foss Gold Medal (14); Fellow of ASM International (16) and the exclusive IFHTSE Medal (2019). He is an elected member of the Danish Society for Technical Sciences (ATV) since 99 and was chairman of the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences (FTP) from 07-09. He has played pivotal roles in formulating the application and selecting the instrumentation for DTUs Centre for Electron Nanoscopy (05-06), as well as formulating the scientific framework for the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre, where he was scientific director in the initiation stage. 

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