Prior to joining Exponent, Ronald Latanision was the director of The H.H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and held joint faculty appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. He led the School of Engineering’s Materials Processing Center at MIT as its director from 1985–1991. He is now an emeritus professor at MIT. In April 2015, he was appointed an adjunct professor in the Key Laboratory of Nuclear Materials and Safety Assessment of the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Latanision retired from Exponent in April 2025 after serving in several capacities, most recently as a senior fellow.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, ASM International, and NACE International. From 1983–1988, Latanision was the first holder of the Shell Distinguished Chair in Materials Science at MIT. He hosted the annual Siemens Science and Technology Competition on the MIT campus for more than ten years and was a founder of Altran Materials Engineering Corporation, established in 1992.
Latanision’s research interests are focused largely in the areas of materials processing and the corrosion of metals and other materials in aqueous environments, including those involving high temperature and pressure. He specializes in corrosion science and engineering, with particular emphasis on materials selection for contemporary and advanced engineering systems and failure analysis. His expertise extends to electrochemical systems and processing technologies, ranging from fuel cells and batteries to supercritical water power generation and waste destruction. His research interests also include stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement of metals and alloys, water and ionic permeation through thin polymer films, photoelectrochemistry, and aging phenomena and life prediction in engineering materials and systems.
Latanision was a member of the International Corrosion Council and served as co-editor-in-chief of Corrosion Reviews, first with Professor Noam Eliaz of Tel Aviv University and later with Dr. Raul Rebak of GE Corporation. He continues to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the National Academy of Engineering quarterly, The Bridge, and as a member of the committee for the National Academies’ Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications. He also hosts the Wilson Science & Technology Forum.
Latanision has served as a science advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology and as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Massachusetts Office of Science and Technology. He has also served as a member of the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council and the NRC’s Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization. In June 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and was reappointed for a second four-year term by President Barack Obama.
