How John Tilton shaped my career
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
How John Tilton shaped my career Frederick R. Demler 1
# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Keywords John Tilton . Fred Demler . Material Substitution . Pennsylvania State University . Mineral Economics
In 1977, I was a graduate student at the Pennsylvania State University, and Dr. John Tilton secured a research grant from the National Sciences Foundation and Resources for the Future to study material substitution (in the tin using industries).1 My role was to study the factors impacting substitution in the beverage container industries (it seemed like a natural topic for me, beer and metals). John guided me to uncover data sources and build a unique data series, interview beverage and can manufacturers, research published reports/papers on substitution and the beverage and packaging industries, and then categorize the various types of substitution, i.e., material, progressive, and technological. Later, Dr. Tilton steered me into expanding the original research grant as a basis for my Ph.D. dissertation.2 John and I also worked on modelling metal trade flows3, student advising, and the art of teaching. We made a number of presentations together, i.e., a few to students, a number to learned academics, and some to the most successful stalwarts in the business community. I fondly remember the “can museum” collected by rummaging through scrap heaps (the empty cans only to be tossed by the cleaning crew at a break at one of our presentations) and our joint presentations given on a sail
1 Material substitution: lessons from tin-using industries (Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 1983). John E. Tilton, Co-authored with Patrick D. Canavan, Frederick R. Demler, and Derek G. Gill. 2 The nature of tin substitution in the beverage container industries, The Pennsylvania State University, 1980, 213 pages; Frederick Russel Demler. 3
Modelling international trade flows in mineral markets, in Walter C. Labys, M.I. Nadiri, and J. Nunez Del Arco, eds., Primary commodities and Latin American development: a modeling approach (Cambridge: Ballinger for the National Bureau of Economic Research, 1980), pp. 85–120. Co-authored with Frederick R. Demler.
* Frederick R. Demler [email protected] 1
Demler Hedge Advisory LLC, New York, USA
boat at Woods Hole (the only way to have an academic discussion!) We bonded initially in a student–teacher relationship and later in a thesis advisor–doctoral candidate mentorship. He was much like a coach with his resume of experience and his energy and love of mineral economics, but most importantly, he is a cherished friend. I remember fondly handing John draft after draft, after draft of my dissertation at his office, in a classroom, in town, and at his home…he could not hide from me! I also remember being mesmerized as John covered the economics of the metals business. It was John who uncovered my love of the metals business, and it was John who gave me a confidence and a root understanding of metals economics that I continue to lean on today.
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