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April is an exciting month.

For starters, the upcoming month will host Ceramics Expo 2016, the second annual tradeshow for all things within the ceramic and glass manufacturing supply chain. Ceramics Expo comes to the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, April 26–28, and is completely free to attend—so what are you waiting for? Register for your complimentary pass here.

April also brings a brand new issue of the ACerS Bulletin, but lucky for you, you don’t have to wait—the issue is now available online. And since we’ll be seeing you in Cleveland for Ceramics Expo, be sure to stop by the ACerS booth to pick up your free print copy of this exciting issue of the Bulletin, which is jam-packed full of great content about manufacturing and more.

A new feature in the April Bulletin is the debut of our “Bulletin First” stories, which appear in the magazine exclusively for a limited time. We’ll later post these stories about new developments within the ceramics and glass world on Ceramic Tech Today, but for now you can only read this great content by cracking open the magazine. This month’s “Bulletin First” stories detail a new acoustic measurement technique for ceramic capacitors and novel solar cells that are so thin and light that they can rest on a bubble—so turn to pages 12 and 20 to read these news stories now.

The April issue of the Bulletin features the story of a small Austria-based additive manufacturing company that has grown alongside the burgeoning world of production-scale additive manufacturing. Lithoz GmbH, although still a relatively young company, has successfully navigated the business world as a start-up and is establishing itself as a leader in the world market for additive manufacturing of ceramics. Monika Homa, corporate communications officer at Lithoz, provides us with the story.

The new issue also includes a feature article by Walter Sherwood, president of WJS Concepts LLC, a company that is pioneering a brand-new approach to address the high costs of corporate R&D—researchers for hire. The idea allows companies without in-house research labs to outsource R&D efforts, while still minimizing the company’s overhead and risks. Sherwood presents a few case studies that show the approach can benefit companies and independent researchers alike.

This issue of the Bulletin also has an article detailing the Raytheon–University of Massachusetts Lowell Research Institute (RURI), a unique academic–corporate partnership that is pairing up to advance additive manufacturing of electronics. RURI codirector Craig Armiento provides us with some inside insight into this advanced institute and how both entities together can accomplish things that neither can individually.

In addition, Steven Freiman, Lynnette Madsen, and William Hong provide a comprehensive report from a recent interagency meeting of government entities that are involved in ceramics, the Interagency Coordinating Committee for Ceramic Research and Development (ICCCRD). The meeting, which focused on computation and modeling, raised some pertinent questions about needs and opportunities within the ceramic and glass community.

There’s lots more good stuff inside this—and every issue—of the ACerS Bulletin. The current issue is free to all for a short time, but remember that all the valuable content in over ninety years of past issues of the ACerS Bulletin is free only to members—so considering joining us today!

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April Gocha

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