[Image above] 2024 Distinguished Life Members: Lisa C. Klein and Zuhair A. Munir. Credit: ACerS
Westerville, OH—The American Ceramic Society will award the honor of Distinguished Life Member to Lisa C. Klein and Zuhair A. Munir. The Distinguished Life Member Award is the Society’s highest honor accorded to members of the scientific and technical organization and recognizes eminent contributions to the ceramic and glass profession.
“Distinguished Life Membership in The American Ceramic Society is our Society’s highest distinction. The two colleagues selected for the honor this year are exemplary recipients of this distinction. It is my privilege to recognize their enduring impact on our field through contributions to ceramic science at the highest level, mentoring of junior scientists and students, and outstanding service and leadership in the Society,” says Rajendra Bordia, ACerS president.
The awards will be presented at the Society’s Annual Honor and Awards banquet, Oct. 7, 2024, during the ACerS Annual Meeting held at the Materials Science and Technology Conference, October 6–9 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Lisa C. Klein
Lisa C. Klein is chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in materials science and engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1977, she was the first woman to join the Department of Ceramic Science and Engineering at Rutgers. She has held visiting faculty positions at the University of Grenoble, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Klein is widely recognized for her seminal contributions to the field of sol-gel science and engineering, particularly sol-gel applications in electrolytes, electrochromics, membranes, and nanocomposites. More recently, she has focused on sol-gel processing of organic–inorganic hybrids and their behavior in corrosion coatings and surface textures. In addition, Rutgers University awarded her a Human Dignity Award in 2015 to recognize her work “leveraging opportunities to encourage women, underrepresented minorities, and economically disadvantaged individuals to pursue their aspirations.”
Klein has been an ACerS member for more than 50 years and is an ACerS Fellow. She served as an editor of Journal of the American Ceramic Society from 1998–2019, and she delivered the Arthur L. Friedberg Ceramic Engineering Tutorial and Lecture at ACerS Annual Meeting at MS&T22 and the Darshana and Arun Varshneya Frontiers of Glass Science Lecture at GOMD 2023. She is a recipient of the Karl Schwartzwalder-Professional Achievement in Ceramic Engineering Award (1987) and the Michigan/Northwest Ohio Section’s Toledo Glass and Ceramic Award (2018). She belongs to ACerS Glass & Optical Materials Division.
Zuhair A. Munir
Zuhair A. Munir is Distinguished Professor, Emeritus in materials science and engineering and Dean, Emeritus of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in materials science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Munir is credited with being one of the first scientists in the U.S. to investigate the role of electromagnetic fields in materials processing, including spark plasma sintering process. He is also one of the first scientists in the U.S. to explore self-propagating high-temperature synthesis. Beyond these studies, he has also studied various topics including functionally graded composite materials and multilayer combustion systems.
Munir has been an ACerS member for more than 55 years and is an ACerS Fellow. He served as an associate editor of Journal of the American Ceramic Society, as well as on a number of Society-level committees. He has received many honors and awards from ACerS, including the John Jeppson Award (2005), the W. David Kingery Award (2011), the Education and Professional Development Council’s Outstanding Educator Award (2004), and the Engineering Ceramic Division’s James I. Mueller Award (2021). He belongs to ACerS Basic Science Division and Engineering Ceramics Division.
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About ACerS
Founded in 1898, The American Ceramic Society is the leading professional membership organization for ceramic and materials scientists, engineers, researchers, manufacturers, plant personnel, educators, and students. The Society serves more than 10,000 members from more than 70 countries. ceramics.org
