Dr. Brooks joined the faculty of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering in 1962 as an instructor. He retired in 1997 from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He gained his national and international reputation for his outstanding contributions to the area of physical metallurgy—more specifically, the relationships between the structure of metals and alloys and the resultant properties.
He authored or coauthored more than one hundred research papers and published six books. A fellow of the American Society for Metals (ASM), he received the society’s most prestigious award given to a university professor—the Albert Easton White Distinguished Professor
Award—in 1996. Professor Brooks additionally received many research and teaching awards from the university, including three years as the outstanding teacher in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Distinguished Service Professor. His contributions to the intellectual life of the university have been recognized by placement of a plaque in his honor on a faculty study.