Meet Dr. Donald Gibbon - Senior Materials Scientist

Donald Gibbon has a Ph.D. in geochemistry/mineralogy from Rice University and over 35 years of industrial materials microcharacterization experience. Don’s major scientific interest has been in the production of high-quality images, whether that be in photographs, scanning or transmission electron micrographs or electron diffraction patterns. He is fortunate to have entered the field of electron-beam instrumentation near the very beginning and has been forced by circumstances to become intimately familiar with the physics and optics of both light and electron microscopes of many kinds. Don brings a knowledge of such fields as transmitted cross-polarized light microscopy to MATCO, extending the boundaries of what we can offer our clients beyond that of the usual testing lab. After teaching optical crystallography and electron microscopy at Penn State for five years, Don first worked in industry for Ferro Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio. Following that he returned to undergraduate college teaching in geology. Then he spent the next 20 years as manager of the materials characterization lab at Calgon Corporation, applying the full gamut of light and electron microscope-based analytical techniques to the solution of materials problems. These very special techniques covered the full range of Calgon’s product applications in industry, including power, automotive, paper, surface finishing, food processing and dozens of others. This broad background enriches his contribution to MATCO.

Dr. Gibbon publishes articles on MATCO's work in a wide variety of journals, including in the last couple of years Journal of Metals, Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, Materials Performance, Bridge Design and Engineering and Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology.

Don lives in Point Breeze with his wife Linda and their two Cardigan Corgi dogs. He is also an avid birder and photographer (www.donaldlgibbonphotograqphy.com). He also leads walking tours of Pittsburgh for visitors to the region (www.pittsburghwalking.com)