Society/Division/Section/Chapter News

For more information: ceramics.org

Welcome new ACerS Corporate Partners

ACerS is pleased to welcome its newest Corporate Partners: Cxx.

To learn about the benefits of ACerS Corporate Partnership, contact Marcus Fish, director of development and industry relations, at 614-794-5863 or mfish@ceramics.org.

Meet the 2024–2025 officers and Board members

President-elect

MARIO AFFATIGATO, FACERS
Fran Allison and Francis Halpin Professor of Physics
Coe College
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I have been quite passionate about The American Ceramic Society since joining it (again) as an incoming assistant professor at Coe College in 1994. My attendance at the Glass & Optical Materials Division meetings strengthened my sense of belonging. Of all the scientific conferences I attended, the ACerS meetings were friendly, full of information that mattered to me, and rich in leadership opportunities.

After 30 years of membership, my opinion of the Society and its role—nationally and internationally—in serving the ceramics and glass communities has become even more passionate. In the many service opportunities I have been afforded—including being editor of one of the Society’s journals, service on GOMD’s Executive Committee, selection to the Society’s Board of Directors, and participation in numerous Committees including Publications, Finance, and Fellows—I have come to believe that we are served by an incredible staff and a myriad of exceptional colleagues who volunteer their time and energy.

The Society has recovered well from the financial tribulations of the COVID-19 pandemic. But these remain challenging times for science and the discipline of ceramics. I wish to serve as ACerS president to continue strengthening the Society in multiple ways: adding to its financial stability, growing its national and international reputation as the world’s hub for ceramics and glass science and art, enhancing its diversity, and ensuring that the Society meets the needs of industry, students, young and mid-career professionals, researchers in academia and government, and international colleagues for decades to come.

Directors

CHRISTOPHER C. BERNDT, FACERS
University Distinguished Professor
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia

I am a ceramicist who has evolved from a metallurgical and materials science background. My post docs were at Stony Brook University in New York and NASA Lewis/Glenn in Ohio. I was a professor in the materials science and engineering department at Stony Brook before returning to Australia.

I am a fundamental materials scientist who implements materials engineering concepts to solve issues of critical commercial and industrial importance. As director of the Australian Research Council’s Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials Center, I lead a team of 19 academics, seven post docs, and 25 graduate students who work with industry partners to achieve joint outcomes.

Joining the Board would provide an opportunity to contribute to a professional society that has had an immense impact on the careers of my students, post docs, and me. I have experience in working at the board level of professional societies, industrial organizations, and university committees. I have also interacted extensively with national labs and industry.

My contributions will be from a global perspective, which is a vital mission for ACerS concerning sustainability and growth. In other words, the footprint of ACerS must grow well beyond North America, and I am positioned to promote such an initiative.

Finally: I am proud to have mentored many students who have become leaders in their fields of expertise.

RUYAN GUO, FACERS
Robert E. Clarke Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas

My leadership experience in academic institutions (chairing department and directing graduate programs) and in the federal government (as engineering program director of the National Science Foundation), coupled with my management of federal and industrial funded research, positions me well to navigate the evolving landscape impacting our community. I would like to play an active role that motivates members and Divisions to both make and embrace paradigm-shifting breakthroughs in ceramic science and engineering, as well as address priorities and challenges facing the academic and industrial communities served by our Society.

Having held a full professor position at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a growing minority-serving institution, and previously at The Pennsylvania State University, a top-tier research university, I bring experience and insights that span interdisciplinary research and faculty/student engagements. I also served as the director/co-director of several National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Office of Naval Research STEM education programs, and Department of Energy workforce development programs and have been a faculty advisor for a community college as well as several professional student chapters. I am committed to fostering the success of the next generation.

I understand the mechanisms of our volunteer-driven organization, having served on various Society Committees and as the program chair, Division chair, and trustee of the Electronics Division. ACerS has been an integral part of my professional journey since 1986 when I joined as a student member; I am passionate about extending my experiences to benefit fellow Society members at various stages of their careers.

My leadership, research, and academic background, combined with my enthusiasm, have prepared me to make meaningful contributions as a member of the Board of Directors.

RODNEY TRICE, FACERS
Professor of materials engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Ind.

The American Ceramic Society has been my technical home since I returned to graduate school in 1995. I recognize the value this organization has had on my career, and as such, have volunteered for ACerS since 2002.

By serving the organization at many different levels, culminating as chair of the Meetings Committee for four years, I believe I can offer leadership to the organization that would continue to grow the Society as we work toward increased internationalization of membership (particularly among young professionals) with attention to diversity. Furthermore, I have come to know the staff members of ACerS as well as most past and current leaders of the Society, and I believe this will help me serve well.

I believe what I could contribute to the Board is a simultaneous respect for the history of ACerS while also embracing the necessary changes to move the organization forward. Remembering our past ensures a commitment to the ACerS core mission: the promotion of ceramic science and engineering for the benefit of our members and society. As such, I am committed to our meetings model, our publications, recruiting new members, and other priorities. In the future, I relish opportunities for our Society to take calculated risks to continue growing our membership, embracing emerging areas that use ceramics, and furthering our efforts in diversity and inclusion.

In summary, I welcome the opportunity, working within a team environment, to position ACerS to flourish into the next century.

2024–2025 ACerS officers

The new slate of ACerS officers has been determined. There were no contested offices and no write-in candidates, automatically making all nominees “elected.” ACerS rules eliminate the need to prepare a ballot or hold an election when only one name is put forward for each office. The new term will begin Oct. 9, 2024, at the conclusion of ACerS 126^th Annual Meeting at MS&T24.

ACerS President-elect

To serve a one-year term from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2025
Mario Affatigato

ACerS Board of Directors

To serve three-year terms from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2027
Christopher C. Berndt
Ruyan Guo
Rodney Trice

Division and Class Officers

To serve a one-year term from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2025, unless otherwise noted

ACerS President-elect

To serve a one-year term from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2025
Mario Affatigato

ACerS Board of Directors

To serve three-year terms from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2027
Christopher C. Berndt
Ruyan Guo
Rodney Trice

Division and Class Officers

To serve a one-year term from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2025,
unless otherwise noted

ACerS President-elect

To serve a one-year term from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2025
Mario Affatigato

ACerS Board of Directors

To serve three-year terms from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2027
Christopher C. Berndt
Ruyan Guo
Rodney Trice

Division and Class Officers

To serve a one-year term from Oct. 9, 2024, to October 2025, unless otherwise noted

Art, Archaeology & Conservation Science Division

• Chair: Christina Bisulca
  Vice chair: Fumie Iizuka
  Secretary: Tami Clare
  Treasurer: Xiao Ma
  Trustee: Darryl Butt
  DEI representative: Christina Bisulca

Basic Science Division

• Chair: Amanda Krause
  Chair-elect: Ricardo Castro
  Vice chair: Fei Peng
  Secretary: Ming Tang
  Secretary-elect: TBD
  DEI representative: Victoria Blair

Bioceramics Division

• Chair: Annabel Braem
  Chair-elect: Hrishikesh Kamat
  Vice chair: Ashutosh K. Dubey
  Secretary: Anamika Prasad

Cements Division

• Chair: Prannoy Suraneni
  Chair-elect: Alex Brand
  Secretary: Kendra Erk
  Trustee: Matt D’Ambrosia
  DEI representative: Kendra Erk

Education and Professional Development Council

• Co-chair: Steven Naleway (2022–2024)
  Co-chair: Brian Gorman (2023–2025)

Electronics Division

• Chair: Matjaz Spreitzer
  Chair-elect: Mina Yoon
  Vice chair: Reeja Jayan
  Secretary: Aiping Chen
  Secretary-elect: TBD
  Trustee: Geoff Brennecka
  DEI representative: Brady Gibbons

Energy Materials and Systems Division

• Chair: Yang Bai
  Vice chair: Charmayne Lonergan
  Secretary: Jianhua Tong
  Program chair: Sepideh Akhbarifar
  DEI representative: Marissa Riegel

Engineering Ceramics Division

• Chair: Young-Wook Kim
  Chair-elect: Jie Zhang
  Vice chair/Treasurer: Amjad Almansour
  Secretary: Federico Smeacetto
  Trustee: Michael Halbig
  Parliamentarian: Manabu Fukushima
  DEI representative: Federico Smeacetto

Glass & Optical Materials Division

• Chair: Michelle Korwin-Edson
  Chair-elect: Mathieu Bauchy
  Vice chair: Jessica Rimsza
  Secretary: Jose Marcial
  DEI representative: TBD

Manufacturing Division

• Chair: Sarah Whipkey
  Chair-elect: Bai Cui
  Vice chair: Chao Ma
  Secretary: Rehan Afzal
  Counselor: William Carty
  DEI representative: Manoj K Mahapatra

Refractory Ceramics Division (term began March 2024)

• Chair: Austin Scheer
  Vice chair: John Waters
  Secretary: Brett Ervin
  Program chair: Rebecka Annunziata
  Trustee: Dana Goski
  DEI representative: Bill Headrick

Structural Clay Products Division

• Chair: Bryce Switzer
  Chair-elect: Mike Rixner
  Vice chair: Marian Clark
  Secretary: TBD
  Trustee: Jed Lee

Greater Missouri Section elects new officers

In March 2024, the Greater Missouri Section elected a new slate of officers for 2024–2026 at the 59^th Annual Greater Missouri Section and Refractory Ceramics Division Symposium on Refractories in St. Louis, Mo.

• Chair: Jason Lonergan (Missouri S&T)
  Vice chair: Kaitlyn Zdvorak (Christy Refractories)
  Secretary: Kenneth Domann (Rath Group)
  Treasurer: Patty Smith (Missouri S&T)
  Counselor: Jeff Smith (Missouri S&T)

Also appointed were:

• Programming Committee chair: Brady Gould (Christy Refractories)
  Social Committee chair: Kaitlyn Zdvorak (Christy Refractories)
  Nominating Committee chair: Chris Perry (Christy Refractories)

The Programming and Social Committees are seeking volunteers to help organize plant tours, social events and outings, and other outreach activities. Please contact Jason Lonergan to get involved.

ACerS International Taiwan Chapter meets with ACerS president Rajendra K. Bordia

On March 5, 2024, members of the ACerS International Taiwan Chapter met virtually with ACerS president Rajendra K. Bordia. Discussions included encouraging members to join multiple Divisions, increasing membership through Associate and GGRN memberships, and nominating fellow Chapter members for ACerS awards.

ACerS International Taiwan Chapter meets with ACerS president Rajendra K. Bordia

On March 5, 2024, members of the ACerS International Taiwan Chapter met virtually with ACerS president Rajendra K. Bordia. Discussions included encouraging members to join multiple Divisions, increasing membership through Associate and GGRN memberships, and nominating fellow Chapter members for ACerS awards.

ACerS International Japan Chapter co-hosts International Session at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Ceramic Society of Japan

The ACerS International Japan Chapter and the International Committee of the Ceramic Society of Japan co-hosted the International Session at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Ceramic Society of Japan in Kumamoto, Japan, on March 14, 2024.

Japan Chapter chair-elect Yoshihiko Imanaka delivered opening remarks, and then several ACerS members gave invited talks: Nicola H. Perry of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Yukio Sato of Kumamoto University, Japan, both 2023 winners of the Richard M. Fulrath Award, and Japan Chapter secretary Tessa Davey of Bangor University (Wales, U.K.).

ACerS International Japan Chapter co-hosts International Session at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Ceramic Society of Japan

The ACerS International Japan Chapter and the International Committee of the Ceramic Society of Japan co-hosted the International Session at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Ceramic Society of Japan in Kumamoto, Japan, on March 14, 2024.

Japan Chapter chair-elect Yoshihiko Imanaka delivered opening remarks, and then several ACerS members gave invited talks: Nicola H. Perry of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Yukio Sato of Kumamoto University, Japan, both 2023 winners of the Richard M. Fulrath Award, and Japan Chapter secretary Tessa Davey of Bangor University (Wales, U.K.).

ACerS International Northeast India Chapter organizes 4^th Global Ceramic Leadership Roundtable

The ACerS International Northeast India Chapter organized the 4^th Global Ceramics Leadership Roundtable at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

ACerS past president Sanjay Mathur (2022–23) informed attendees about recent ACerS activities and the Society’s growth, and Northeast India Chapter chair Lalit Kumar Sharma updated the audience on the Chapter’s activities.

Sharma thanked former ACerS president Mrityunjay Singh (2015–16) for being the one who conceived the Global Ceramics Leadership Roundtable idea in India, and then Northeast India Chapter vice-chair Manoj Kumar provided more details about the event. K.K. Pant, director at IIT Roorkee, spoke about IIT’s role in this year’s roundtable and thanked the Northeast India Chapter for organizing it at IIT-Roorkee.

ACerS International Northeast India Chapter organizes 4^th Global Ceramic Leadership Roundtable

The ACerS International Northeast India Chapter organized the 4^th Global Ceramics Leadership Roundtable at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

ACerS past president Sanjay Mathur (2022–23) informed attendees about recent ACerS activities and the Society’s growth, and Northeast India Chapter chair Lalit Kumar Sharma updated the audience on the Chapter’s activities.

Sharma thanked former ACerS president Mrityunjay Singh (2015–16) for being the one who conceived the Global Ceramics Leadership Roundtable idea in India, and then Northeast India Chapter vice-chair Manoj Kumar provided more details about the event. K.K. Pant, director at IIT Roorkee, spoke about IIT’s role in this year’s roundtable and thanked the Northeast India Chapter for organizing it at IIT-Roorkee.

Member Highlights

For more information: ceramics.org/members

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Volunteer Spotlight: Christina Rost

ACerS Volunteer Spotlight profiles a member who demonstrates outstanding service to the Society.

Christina Rost is assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Virginia Tech. She earned an M.S. in physics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from North Carolina State University.

She studies complex oxide synthesis and local characterization using X-ray spectroscopy for a variety of functional applications.

Rost previously served as a mentor for the ACerS Mentor Program. She also successfully petitioned the Washington D.C./Maryland/Virginia Section to expand its borders to include all of Virginia.

We extend our deep appreciation to Rost for her service to our Society!

ACerStudent Engagement: Shannon Rogers

Shannon Rogers is a Ph.D. student in materials science at Colorado School of Mines. She is part of ACerS President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA) and recently led a volunteer effort representing the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation at the National Science Teaching Association conference in Denver, Colo.

“I attribute a significant influence in my career direction from the opportunity to join PCSA and ACerS. My experiences, people I’ve met, and places I have traveled to due to the Society have helped me grow into the engineer, scientist, and outreach enthusiast I am today!”

You can take advantage of these opportunities as well by becoming a student member of ACerS. Learn more.

Names in the news

Members—Would you like to be included in the Bulletin’s Names in the News? Please send a current head shot along with the link to the article to mmartin@ceramics.org. The deadline is the 30^th of each month.

Raj N. Singh, FACerS, Regents Professor at Oklahoma State University, was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Induction will take place at the NAE Annual Meeting in September 2024.

The outsized research impact of ACerS members and journal authors

In October 2023, the latest version of a regularly updated and publicly available database of top-cited scientists was published. Analysis of the rankings revealed that the ceramic and glass community has a substantial impact on scholarly literature given its size relative to much larger fields, such as biomedicine and physics.

ACerS Fellows, such as Yuri Gogotsi, and Distinguished Life Members, such as the late luminaries Anthony Evans and Larry Hench, are highly ranked among all the researchers on the career impact list. When considering only “materials” researchers, 17 of the top 25 career high-impact researchers are contributors to ACerS journals, many of them frequent contributors.

When considering only recent years for impact, ACerS journal authors are once more among the most highly ranked. In rankings based solely upon metrics for the year 2022, 17 of the top 25 most impactful materials researchers published in ACerS journals.

In an email, Michel Barsoum, FACerS, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University, noted that “for a small society that is great impact.” Barsoum, who has authored 50 papers in ACerS publications, is ranked third among materials researchers and 124 among all researchers in all disciplines based on 2022 impact.

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Aldo R. Boccaccini, FACerS, head of the Institute of Biomaterials at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, started his two-year tenure as president of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS) in January 2024. He has been a FEMS Board member since 2016, representing the German Materials Society (DGM).

In Memoriam

• E. Lowell Swarts
• Leon W. “Pete” Riker

Some detailed obituaries can also be found on the ACerS website.

Remembering ACerS past president John B. “Jack” Wachtman, Jr.

The American Ceramic Society has lost an esteemed member—John B. “Jack” Wachtman died on Dec. 13, 2023, at the age of 94. He is predeceased by his wife, Edith V. Wachtman.

Wachtman grew up in the small town of Conway, S.C., where he attended public schools. During his early school years, Wachtman was influenced by the discovery of geometry, algebra, and physics. He applied for and received a scholarship from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Wachtman received B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Carnegie Tech and was a research and teaching assistant there from 1949–1951. Wachtman stated in his memoir that “my time at Carnegie was perhaps the highlight of my life. I loved the intellectual life and companionship of the students. The curriculum was designed to give scientists and engineers some degree of liberal arts education to the extent that this was possible.”

Wachtman joined the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST]) in 1951 as a physicist in the Engineering Ceramics Division. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland in 1961.

Wachtman left NBS in 1983 and began a second career as the first director of the Center for Ceramic Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick. During his 12 years at Rutgers, Wachtman taught courses on characterization and mechanical properties of ceramics intended for seniors and incoming graduate students.

After retiring from Rutgers, Wachtman wrote books based on the courses he taught. One of these books, Mechanical properties of ceramics, was published in 1996; a revised, second edition that was co-authored with his Rutgers colleagues Roger Cannon and John Matthewson published in 2009. These books were well received, with the first book selling 500 copies in the first six months. According to George Quinn (retired, NIST), these books are by far the best and most balanced textbooks on the topic.

In 1989, Wachtman took on the part-time role as technical editor for ACerS publications, a position he held for 12 years. During this time, his principal focus was on Journal of the American Ceramic Society. In his final year as editor, he, along with ACerS staff, succeeded in putting JACerS online with a subscription system. According to Mark Mecklenborg, ACerS executive director, “Having Dr. Wachtman involved in this process was essential. His knowledge, expertise, and commitment to the Society positioned the journal for success for many years to come.”

One of Wachtman’s final contributions to ACerS was editing the book Ceramic innovations in the 20th century. This book, published in 1999, coincided with the 100th anniversary of the founding of ACerS.

Wachtman collected a multitude of honors from various organizations, including NBS. In his memoir, Wachtman mentioned that the most meaningful honor to him was the election to the International Academy of Ceramics in 1988, as well as serving as president of The American Ceramic Society (1978) and the Federation of Materials Societies (1975). He was a Distinguished Life Member and an ACerS Fellow.

Wachtman was such an inspiration to so many people that it is fitting he ends his memoir with this closing quotation by polymath Albert Schweitzer: “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lit the flame within us.”

Editor’s notes:
ACerS appreciates NIST Library for sharing the “Oral history interview of John B. Wachtman,” Feb. 4, 2010, and Wachtman’s 24-page “Memories and reflections on a career as a scientist-engineer in research management, teaching, and editing,” 2009, revised 2010.

Wachtman also featured in the December 1999 Ceramic Bulletin (Vol. 78, No. 12), pp. 36–41, “Profiles in ceramics” by Kathy Woodward.

Adrian C. Wright, Distinguished Life Member, 1944–2023

Adrian Carl Wright, ACerS Distinguished Life Member and ACerS Fellow, died on March 22, 2023, at the age of 79. Wright, who dedicated his research career to understanding glass structure, was a member of the Glass & Optical Materials Division and also active in the Society for Glass Technology, where he served as the 49th president from 2002–2004.

Wright was professor of amorphous solid-state physics at the University of Reading, U.K. He earned his B.Sc. in chemistry, Ph.D. in physical chemistry, and D.Sc. degrees from the University of Bristol, U.K. After completing his Ph.D. studies, he took a position in 1969 at the University of Reading, where he remained until his retirement as professor emeritus in 2007.

He spent three sabbatical years in the United States working at leading institutions, including Xerox Palo Alto Research Center; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory; Argonne National Laboratory; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Florida; and New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

Awards and Deadlines

For more information: ceramics.org/members/awards

Bioceramics Division announces winners of YouTube video contest

The Bioceramics Division announced the winners of its recent YouTube video contest.

The winning submissions showcased recent innovations and technological advancements in the field of bioceramics. Congratulations to the winners:

First place: 
Biomechanically tunable scaffolds as testbeds of cancer bone metastasis for bone regeneration
Hanmant Gaikwad, Sharad Jaswandkar, and Preetham Ravi
North Dakota State University

Second place:
Let’s talk about: Bioceramics | BGCs | Applications & new ideas
Efraín Esaú De La Rosa García
Technological Institute of Saltillo, Mexico

Nomination deadlines for Division awards: July 1, July 31, or Aug. 4, 2024

Contact: Vicki Evans

Nomination deadlines for Society awards: Aug. 1 or Sept. 1, 2024

Contact: Erica Zimmerman

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Class and Division awards: Nominations due Jan. 15, 21, 31 or March 1, 2024

Contact: Vicki Evans

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Nominations for Division Awards

• Deadline: Nomination deadlines for Division awards are XXX
• Contact: Karen McCurdy

Nominations for Society Awards

• Deadline: Nomination deadline is XXX
• Contact: Email Erica Zimmerman or call 614.794.5821.

Students and Outreach

For more information: ceramics.org/resources-for-students

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Introducing the new Ceramic and Glass Career Center

ACerS volunteers attend the 2024 National Science Teaching Association conference in Denver

With eight volunteers, three days of science, and two exciting demonstrations, ACerS members introduced teachers from around the country to ceramic and glass materials science at the 2024 National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) conference.

The NSTA National Conference on Science Education took place March 20–23, 2024, in Denver, Colo. NSTA, which boasts more than 40,000 members, hosted thousands of teachers at the conference this year.

A group of ACerS members attended the conference to represent the Society and the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation (CGIF), including Shannon Rogers, Ph.D. student in materials science at Colorado School of Mines. Rogers wanted to participate in outreach with the ACerS Colorado Section, and she came up with the idea to bring ACerS and the CGIF presence to the Denver conference.

“We met with more teachers than we could count, wowed them with our demonstrations, periodic table pens, and all the free resources volunteers and ACerS staff have spent years putting together,” Rogers says. “Most were overjoyed, grateful, and said they would definitely sign up for the Kit Grant Application.”

The volunteers demonstrated the Candy Fiber Pull and Shape Memory Alloys lessons from the CGIF’s Materials Science Classroom Kit. They also helped spread awareness about the CGIF Kit Grant, which helps teachers bring the kit materials and full lesson plans into their classrooms.

The CGIF is grateful for the student and ACerS volunteers who helped facilitate such a successful experience at the 2024 NSTA conference.

Apply for the CGIF Kit Grant. Help expand the CGIF’s presence at outreach events like this one by visiting ceramics.org/donate.

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