A teacher at heart, Peter Liaw is a proud mentor and professor of materials science and engineering to the next generation of engineers and states, “we are here to help students and make sure they can be successful or do much better than what we have.” Liaw’s passion for research and teaching has been influenced by his grandfather, professors at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and Northwestern University, and his colleagues at Westinghouse. Emphasizing the importance of being grateful for those who helped him in his studies and career, Liaw addresses this as a key attribute, among devotion and dedication, to being successful.  Liaw has made some of the earliest technical contributions to industry on the non-destructive evaluation of metal matrix composites and continues with research on fatigue behavior of materials. After working 13 years in industry at Westinghouse, Liaw transitioned to academia at the University of Tennessee, and is now an Ivan Racheff Chair of Excellence.