DATE: May 11, 2009

CONTACT: John Ballato, 864-656-1035
jballat@clemson.edu

WRITER: Jessica Lance, 864-656-2061
jrlance@clemson.edu

Clemson faculty member elected ACerS Fellow

CLEMSON — John Ballato, associate vice president for research and economic development at Clemson University and a professor in the College of Materials Science and Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS).

Founded in 1898, the American Ceramic Society serves the informational, educational and professional needs of the international ceramics community. Ceramics usually are described in simple terms as any inorganic, nonmetallic materials, and can include glass. Ceramics today encompasses many fields, including aerospace, optical materials, medicine and electronics.

Ballato is director of the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) at Clemson. His research interests include the optical properties of materials and fiber fabrication.

COMSET is an interdisciplinary research unit of the College of Engineering and Science. Faculty members with common interests are able to collaborate to develop advanced materials that exhibit a value-added interaction with light. COMSET has received $42 million for sponsored research.

To be elected as Fellow to ACerS, nominees must be 35 years or older, members of ACerS for at least five years continuously and been proven qualified for elevation to the grade of Fellow by their contributions to the ceramics arts and sciences and shown broad scholarship in the industry or outstanding service to ACerS.

Ballato earned a bachelor's degree in ceramic science and engineering in 1993 and a Ph.D. in ceramic and materials engineering in 1997 from Rutgers University. He joined Clemson University’s department of ceramic and materials engineering in 1997. He has published more than 160 archival scientific papers, holds 25 U.S. and foreign patents, given more than 125 lectures and colloquia and co-organized 25 national and international conferences.

Awards Ballato has received include the 1997 ACerS Kreidl Award; the 2001 Clemson University Byar’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching; the 2003 Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s Robert Lansing Hardy Award in recognition of exceptional promise for a successful career in materials science; the 2004 ACerS Robert L. Coble Award in recognition of the nation’s outstanding young ceramic scientists; and the 2004 National Institute of Ceramic Engineers Schwartswalder-PACE Award in recognition of the nation’s outstanding young ceramic engineer whose achievements have been significant to the ceramics field and general welfare of the American people.