James Mayer passed away June 14, 2013. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in physics from Purdue University. Mayer was an engineer for the U.S. Army early in his career. He then worked for Hughes Research Laboratories before joining the faculty at the California Institute of Technology and then Cornell. He came to ASU in 1992 where he became director of the Center for Solid State Science. He was made a Regents’ Professor in 1994. He retired in 2007 from his position as a professor with ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. In 1981 he won the Von Hippel Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Materials Research Society, and three years later was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. During his career, Mayer was granted 12 patents related to his research and development work, authored or co-authored more than 750 research papers and 12 books. Mayer developed ion-implanted silicon that became a key element in a breakthrough processing technique used in semiconductor manufacturing.  He also contributed to further advances in the materials that have enabled computers and other electronic devices to be made more compact and to operate rapidly. Mayer remained a long-time career mentor to many of the more than 40 graduate students he helped guide through their doctoral and post-doctoral studies. Mayer made an impact on K-12 engineering and science education in Arizona. He created a popular Patterns in Nature course (called PIN for short) to instruct K-12 teachers on engineering and science education methods, and taught the course for many years. He also created an ASU PIN Van, a “science laboratory on wheels,” that housed state-of-the-art microscopes. It was driven “door to door” to K-12 schools throughout the state to provide young students an introduction to materials science and engineering. Mayer was also an aficionado of art, books and cinema, and co-authored two books on the science behind creating works of art. Mayer lectured to art conservators at the Louvre museum in Paris about ion-beam analysis of paint pigments and the ink in rare books. Mayer is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Betty), four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. (Source: edited from asu insight. For the full article, go to https://asunews.asu.edu/20130620_james_mayer_memorial/ )