Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 8-331
(617) 253-5946
tarky@mit.edu
Profile
Michael Tarkanian is the Associate Director of CMRAE and a Senior Lecturer in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). He teaches 3.042 (Materials Project Laboratory), the capstone design course in the DMSE curriculum. He also manages the Laboratory for Engineering Materials and the Merton C. Flemings Materials Processing lab, with the help of the DMSE instructional staff. Work in these laboratories focuses on materials and metallurgical processing, manufacturing, prototyping, and design. Students are instructed in the theory and practice of casting, forging, machining, and welding.
Mike Tarkanian has been at MIT almost continuously since he was 18 years old. In his few short breaks from the Institute, he worked in materials development at early 3D printing company Z Corporation, and in the polymer coatings and adhesives industry at Bostik. He earned a BS and an MS from DMSE and is registered in Massachusetts as a professional engineer in metallurgy.
Selected Publications
Dorothy Hosler, Sandra L. Burkett, and Michael J. Tarkanian (1999). Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284: 1988-1991.
Michael J. Tarkanian and Dorothy Hosler (2000). La Elaboración de Hule en Mesoamérica. Arqueología Mexicana 8(44): 54-57.
Michael J. Tarkanian and Dorothy Hosler (2001). An Ancient Tradition Continued: Modern Rubber Processing in Mexico. In The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame, E. Michael Whittington (Ed.), pp.116-121. Charlotte: The Mint Museum of Art, in conjunction with Thames & Hudson.