Continuous Casting Center

Brian G. Thomas

Founder and Director of the Continuous Casting Center

  • C.J. Gauthier Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
  • Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
  • Director, Continuous Casting Consortium (UIUC) and Continuous Casting Center (CSM)

bgthomas@mines.edu

Biography

Brian G. Thomas founded the Continuous Casting Consortium at the University of Illinois in 1991 and has led it ever since, developing comprehensive computational models of the continuous casting of steel. His work couples fluid flow, heat transfer, solidification, and thermal-mechanical stress analysis to explain and prevent casting defects, and is applied widely across the global steel industry.

Education

  • 1985 Ph.D., Metallurgical Process Engineering — University of British Columbia
  • 1979 B.Eng., Metallurgical Engineering — McGill University
  • 1976 D.E.C., Pure and Applied Science — John Abbott College

Academic positions

  • 2016 – present C.J. Gauthier Professor Emeritus & Research Professor, Mechanical Science & Engineering, UIUC
  • 2016 – present Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
  • 2008 – 2015 C.J. Gauthier Professor, Mechanical Science & Engineering, UIUC
  • 1998 – 2015 Professor, Mechanical Science & Engineering, UIUC
  • 1991 – 1998 Associate Professor, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, UIUC
  • 1985 – 1991 Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, UIUC

Selected appointments.

Publications

Professor Thomas has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed publications on the continuous casting of steel. The CCC's publications database collects 468 of them, spanning 1984–2025.

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Selected honors & awards

  • 2026 Member, European Academy of Sciences
  • 2025 #1 lifetime-ranked scholar in continuous casting (ScholarGPS)
  • 2024 Honorary Member, AIME
  • 2019 Benjamin F. Fairless Award, Association for Iron & Steel Technology
  • 2017 Distinguished Member & Fellow, Association for Iron & Steel Technology
  • 2011 Application to Practice Award, TMS
  • 2009 Fellow, ASM International
  • 2008 MPMD Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award, TMS
  • 2001 J. Keith Brimacombe Lecturer, Iron & Steel Society
  • 1989 Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation

Selected from more than 50 honors and awards.

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