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James C.M. Li, a professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Program was 100 years old when he died.

Li was a world-renowned researcher who found a way to produce metallic glass for the first time. He made significant contributions to the understanding of how materials deform and become damaged under mechanical loading.

Over the course of more than 40 years as a faculty member at the University, his advice helped more than 40 PhD students launch successful careers in industry, government, and academia as corporate researchers, engineers, technical officers, administrators, and experts in intellectual property law. He was an author of more than 260 papers, six patents, and four books.

His many awards include the ASM International Gold Medal, the Champion Mathewson Gold Medal, the Robert F. Mehl Gold Medal, the Acta Metallurgica Gold Medal, the Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher Award, and the Lu Tse-Hon Medal of the Chinese Society for Materials Science. Li has been recognized as a Fellow of ASM, the American Physical Society and the Metallurgical Society. In 2006, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Professor Renato Perucchio, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, called Li “Not only an outstanding scientist but a very warm human being. One of the pillars in our department.”

Li’s extensive contributions to the University were chronicled upon his retirement in 2014. Additional information about his life and loved ones are published in his .

His family will hold a memorial service in his honor at Bartolomeo & Perotto Funeral Home in Rochester at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 10. University flags on the Eastman Quadrangle will be lowered in his honor on May 8, and the University is planning a memorial event on campus tentatively scheduled for Friday, September 26 featuring former colleagues, students, and family members.