Rate My Professor Merete Tangstad

Merete Tangstad is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering within the Engineering faculty at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She completed her Master's degree in metallurgy at NTNU in 1989 and earned her PhD from the same institution between 1992 and 1996. Prior to her academic career, Tangstad worked from 1990 to 2004 at Elkem and Eramet, where she focused on developing new processes for ferroalloys and silicon production. Since 2004, she has served as a professor at NTNU, specializing in Materials Technology and holding responsibilities as the subject coordinator for Process Metallurgy. Her career trajectory reflects a strong integration of industrial experience and academic leadership in metallurgical engineering.

Tangstad's research interests center on ferroalloy production, particularly manganese ferroalloys, silicon production, ferrosilicon, and innovative processes for solar grade silicon. She has produced 286 research publications, accumulating over 5,194 citations on Google Scholar and 3,859 on ResearchGate, demonstrating substantial influence in the field of pyrometallurgy. As a leader in SFI Metal Production, she oversees research divisions and fosters collaborations between academia and industry, including projects on sustainable metal production and biocarbon utilization. Tangstad has supervised more than 30 PhD students and postdocs, contributing to the education of future experts. She is internationally active, delivering keynote presentations at conferences such as the International Smelting Technology Symposium and the Manganese Ferroalloy Production School, and participating in global initiatives like the PreMa project on submerged arc furnace fundamentals for manganese alloys. Her work advances energy-efficient and environmentally friendly metallurgical processes, impacting both Norwegian and international metal industries.