The goal of the 2013 Professional Development Workshop in Ceramics is to enhance and strengthen the career development of the next generation of U.S. leaders in ceramic materials research and education. Five early-career faculty who have recently been awarded NSF CAREER grants from the Ceramics Program in the Division of Materials Research are the main focus of the workshop activities. They will be immersed in one and a half day technical and professional development workshop along with fifteen senior colleagues and peers from both national and international scientific communities with expertise in ceramic materials. The interaction between all participants will impact the early-career faculty?s respective fields of research, allow exchange of best practices for training and teaching students, and facilitate the forging of new collaborative or cooperative research opportunities worldwide. The workshop takes place during the International Conference on Advanced & Nano Materials (ICANM 2013) and is open to all registrants. Placing the workshop in conjunction with an international conference will amplify its impact by bringing in a larger audience, in particular assistant professors and postdoctoral associates, increase the visibility of the early-career faculty, and may, in some cases, reduce overall travel time and cost.
TECHNICAL DETAILS: The 2013 Professional Development Workshop in Ceramics focuses on five technical topics presented by each early-career faculty: 1) structure-property relationships arising from interfaces of bi-phase ceramics; 2) radiation interactions with nanoceramics; 3) electronic properties of perovskite thin films heterostructures; 4) development of environmentally-benign piezoelectric materials; and 5) enhancement of pyroelectric and electrocaloric effects in complex oxide thin films. The workshop is open to all ICANM 2013 conference attendees. An early-career faculty will lead one of the topics with a short oral presentation, followed by a question and answer period from a panel of experts in the faculty?s field. The experts will critically evaluate her/his research plans, career development, and education efforts by offering suggestions, asking questions, and providing positive feedback. Further discussion with the audience will follow. This workshop in the third in a series; previous participants have found the environment to be positive and the commentary to be helpful in their scientific and professional careers. Post-doctoral associates and new assistant professors have found the workshops to be both inspiring and useful.
