On March 11, 2022, Prof. Michael J. Mills of Ohio State University was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mills is a world-leading scientist in the field of electron microscopic characterization of complex engineering materials, and he has also been a key partner in the collaborative research center "From Atom to Turbine Blade" for many years.

On March 11, 2022, Prof. Michael J. Mills of Ohio State University was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at a ceremony. Mills is a world leader in the electron microscopic characterization of complex engineering materials. Through the honorary doctorate, the faculty recognizes his efforts as a key partner in the Collaborative Research Center "From Atom to Turbine Blade - Scientific Foundations for a New Generation of Single-Crystalline Superalloys." (SFB/TR 103).

The Ohio State University and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum are linked by a long-standing collaboration, as Prof. Eggeler's predecessor, Prof. Erhard Hornbogen, spent a research semester in Columbus working in the field of wear of metallic materials. Since 1995, Mills and Eggeler have further deepened the contact, thus enabling a long-standing bilateral exchange of students and doctoral candidates.