source: NewsOK

Tulsa-based North American Galvanizing & Coatings Inc. has agreed to be acquired through a cash tender offer for $7.50 per share in cash or about $126 million. That news, issued before markets opened Thursday, sent North American Galvanizing shares to $7.49, a 34.7 percent gain. More than 4 million shares traded, about 80 times the average daily volume. North American Galvanizing shares were the second-biggest daily gainer on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Under the agreement, North American Galvanizing would be merged with a subsidiary of Fort Worth-based AZZ Inc., a major competitor in the galvanizing industry. The tender offer from AZZ is scheduled to commence April 30. The companies expect the transaction can close by the end of August.

Read more here.

Emil Peña, Executive Director for the National Corrosion Center, was invited to moderate at the conference “Natural Gas Nation”. As described by the George Bush Institute,

“Natural Gas Nation” addressed the question of what needs to be done to make America’s explosively growing reserves of natural gas a true game-changer – for the environment, for the economy and for national security.

To learn more about Natural Gas Nation, go to Natural Gas Nation Highlights.

Emilio Peña spoke with President Martinelli, President of Panama, about the National Corrosion Center at a special UTMB/ University of Panama accord signing on October 28, 2009. Pictured from left to right: Emilio Peña, President Martinelli, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and Houston City Councilmember Mike Sullivan.

Scientists at The National Corrosion Center  have unveiled a one-of-a-kind microscope  that lets them zoom in for the closest look anyone has ever gotten of corrosion in action.

	TOMMY LAVERGNE
	Dr. Rolf Arvidson, left, and Dr. Andreas Lüttge demonstrate the new ZeMapper interferometer.

“There is no other instrument like this in the world,” said NCC director Andreas Lüttge at the Oct. 14 Rice University open house for the center’s new interferometry laboratory. “With this interferometer we can measure corrosion quantitatively before most techniques can even see it,” said Lüttge, professor of Earth science and of chemistry.

Dr. Ken Nealson, Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences, spoke to the National Corrosion Center Advisory Board on September 18, 2009. Dr. Nealson reviewed his pioneering work with geobiology, Shewanella oneidensis, and the tie in to corrosion (via electromicrobiology).

From the USC faculty profile:

Professor Nealson is one of the pioneers of the field of modern geobiology – an area of science that tackles the still largely unexplored domain where the processes and chemistry of life intersect with the planet’s mineral and metal chemistry. In his early work as a marine microbiologist, Nealson discovered quorum sensing, the phenomenon in which microbial communities create light. As one of the first to recognize the importance of microorganisms in catalyzing redox reactions in the environment, he has led the development of tools to study these organisms. Nealson’s techniques, used to study microbial populations through genetic identification, are now considered standard in analyzing microbes found in biofilms. On a much larger scale, Nealson has studied the cycling of such minerals as iron and manganese, revealing the key role of microorganisms in these biogeochemical processes. More recently, he has turned to the understanding of how life can function in extreme environments, and he is directing efforts at NASA to search for life and evidence of ancient life in the solar system. Recent work has involved the systems biology and comparative genomics of a group of organisms in the genus Shewanella, as well as adapting his laboratory work to the application of using microbes to produce energy from waste materials in microbial fuel cells.

Dr. Nealson’s awards include:

• Endowed Chair, Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies, 9/1/2001-
• Proctor and Gamble Medal in Environmental Microbiology, 5/2003
• Distinguished Visiting Researcher Award presented by Joint
• Oceanographic Institution, 1996
• Fellow (or Equivalent) of National Society in Discipline, American Academy of Microbiology, 1994
• Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, 1982

Impedance spectroscopy is an extremely powerful non-destructive investigative technique that can obtain essential information about interfacial and bulk material parameters through the use of low energy, time varying electrical excitation. When applied to an electrochemical system, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) can provide information on reaction parameters, corrosion rates, oxide characteristics and integrity, surface porosity, coating integrity, mass transport, and many other electrode/interface characteristics. EIS is possibly one of the most powerful methods available in electrochemistry today and is utilized in research and development in essentially every technical sector, e.g., transportation and infrastructure, batteries and fuel cells, medicine, among many others. However, effective utilization of this method has been hindered by the lack of a comprehensive and cohesive explanation of the theory, measurement, and analysis techniques. This course on EIS has been developed to fill this void.

This short course, now in its 21st year, was first taught in 1988 in Charlottesville, Virginia. It has recently had the tremendous fortune of moving to the vibrant and technologically rich city of Houston, Texas. Please read more about our course on this website, or contact us either by e-mail or telephone.

The National Corrosion Center has signed or anticipates pending signatures on MOUs and general membership agreements with several partners including: NACE International, City of Knowledge-Panama, Houston Port Authority, University of Arkansas, Alamo Protechtacoat, HHK Technologies, Risavika Gas Center-Stavenger, and UDLAP (Universidad de las Américas Puebla).

Creation of a regional  NCC Corrosion Lab and Training Center in Panama’s Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge) has been approved.  NCC Director Andreas Lüttge and Executive Director Emil Peña will visit in April 2009 to discuss next steps. City of Knowledge is a government sponsored cluster of academic organizations, technology companies and non-governmental organizations located across the Panama Canal’s Miraflores locks in what used to be US. Army South headquarters, Fort Clayton.

NCC,  RPSEA and  NACE International will co-sponsor Protecting the Nation’s Infrastructure into the 21st Century at Rice University in Fall 2009. Dr. Norman Hackerman, an internationally recognized electrochemist, was President of both the University of Texas-Austin and Rice University.  Co-chaired by former Texas Governor Mark White and Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Curl, the symposium will explore many aspects of the degradation of public infrastructure through the ravages of corrosion. Details to follow. The symposium is a follow-up to 2008′s  The Corroding of America’s Infrastructure”.

NCC Executive Director  Emil Peña updated the NACE Research Committee on NCC activities and progress at the NACE 2009 Conference and Expo in Atlanta, March 25.