Davis_125x148Mark J. Davis is currently a Senior Research Scientist at SCHOTT North America, Inc., Duryea, Pennsylvania, USA. Though his current work is largely of a materials science nature, his formal educational background is squarely in the field of geology, earning three degrees in that field: B. S., California State University, Northridge, 1986; M.S., University of Southern California, 1989; and Ph.D., Yale University, 1996. Prior to joining SCHOTT, he was a post-doc at Yale, following his doctoral work there.  

Mark is a coauthor on 14 peer-reviewed papers, numerous proceedings, has five issued patents and three filed patent applications. While at Yale, he received the W. M. Ford Prize in Mineralogy and the Estwing Hammer award and his dissertation received the highest rating possible from all five committee members.

Being a member of the Glass and Optical Materials Division Executive Committee from 2006-2010, Mark was Chair of the Division for 2009-2010. Further, he was Chair of the 8th International Symposium on Crystallization in Glasses in Liquids, organized by The American Ceramic Society in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 2006, has organized and chaired numerous sessions at various Society and Division meetings, and has served on student career panels and various award committees through the years.

Mark continues his main research interest of glass-ceramics, the industrial equivalent to igneous rocks, and his main focus while active in the field of geology.  Glass-ceramics with specific electrical functionality has been of principal interest in recent years (e.g., electrically conductive or piezoelectric). In addition, and much to his surprise, Mark has found high-precision, laser-based measurements (e.g., thermal expansion, thermo- and piezo-optic properties) to be both highly challenging and rewarding fields of study.