[Image above] Dueling pianos offered a night filled with laughter and dancing for ICACC attendees during the Thursday night conference banquet. Credit: ACerS
Over the past 50 years, our ability to design materials with precise structures and functionalities has improved dramatically, enabled by key developments in various characterization and manufacturing techniques. ACerS Engineering Ceramics Division (ECD) annually recognizes these advancements at the International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC), but this year, attendees also reflected on how far the engineered materials field has come as part of the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the 50th ICACC.
The milestone conference took place Jan. 25–30, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. A record-setting winter storm swept across most of the United States right when ICACC was scheduled to begin, but fortunately, more than 760 attendees from 43 countries, including nearly 200 students, successfully traveled to the conference.
Attendees enjoyed the Florida weather and live music during the outdoor welcome reception on Sunday evening. Credit: ACerS
“The great success of this premier international event for researchers, educators, technology developers, manufacturers, and end users worldwide demonstrated the power of scientific innovation, bringing together subject-matter experts, groundbreaking research, and a shared vision to address global challenges through advances in ceramic science and technology,” says ICACC 2026 Program Chair Federico Smeacetto. “We celebrated the legacy, innovation, and future of ICACC together, fostering a shared sense of accomplishment and inspiring continued collaboration.”
Highlights from ICACC 2026 are below.
Opening ceremony recognizes award winners and teases upcoming commemorative book
Smeacetto and other ECD leaders welcomed attendees to ICACC 2026 during the opening ceremony on Monday morning. They also recognized several individuals with special awards.
Joanna Wojewoda-Budka of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Reeja Jayan of Carnegie Mellon University, and Fiona Spirrett of The University of Osaka were announced as the Jubilee Global Excellence Award winners, and Lyndsey McMillon-Brown of NASA Glenn Research Center was announced as the Global Young Investigator Award winner.
Wojewoda-Budka and Jayan received their awards in person and later delivered talks on unique synthesis methods involving self-assembling product phases and electromagnetic-controlled chemical reactions, respectively. McMillon-Brown unfortunately got trapped in the winter storm, but she shared a recording of her talk on next-generation materials for advanced energy applications. Spirrett is scheduled to present her award lecture at ICACC 2027.
Smeacetto and ECD Chair Amjad Almansour also announced the recipients of the 2026 Global Star Award, which recognizes active volunteers and their excellent contributions to ECD and ICACC. This year’s recipients were Mali Balasubramanian, Do Thi Mai Dung, Peter Kroll, Tae Ho Shin, and Taeseup Song.
Besides the award announcements, Smeacetto highlighted two new focused sessions and a special symposium at ICACC 2026:
- SYMPOSIUM 20: Golden Jubilee: Engineered Ceramics for Achieving Net-Zero Carbon Emissions
- Focused Session 2: Ceramics to Shape the Future of Low-Carbon and Carbon-Negative Technologies
- Focused Session 3: Smart Powder Processing of Multifunctional Ceramics and Catalyst Materials
He also called out an upcoming commemorative book to honor the conference’s 50th anniversary. Titled Engineered Ceramics for Sustainable Development and Net-Zero Carbon Emissions, the book will contain contributions from many well-known experts in the ceramics field.
Award and plenary lectures explore the past and future of engineered ceramics
During the award and plenary session on Monday morning, four researchers described key developments and shared their expectations for the field of engineered ceramics.
Stanley Whittingham, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering at Binghamton University, gave the 2026 James I. Mueller Lecture. His talk focused on the development and evolution of lithium-ion batteries, which he played a pivotal role in developing while working at Esso (now ExxonMobile) in the 1970s. As one of three recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Whittingham emphasized that “universities, industry, and government need to work together, not in siloes,” to successfully bring new battery innovations to market.
Following the Mueller Lecture, ACerS Past President Mrityunjay Singh (right) presented Whittingham with a diploma recognizing him as an Honorary Member of the World Academy of Ceramics. Credit: ACerS
Shunpei Yamazaki, chairman and CEO of Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) Co., Ltd., was the recipient of the 2026 Mrityunjay Singh Bridge Building Award. His talk focused on the development of indium oxide-based semiconductors at SEL, which have the potential to enable low-power artificial intelligence systems. He and his colleagues previously published an open-access paper in the International Journal of Ceramic Science & Engineering on this technology, and his award lecture provided updates on the commercial advancement since then.
Yamazaki (center right) accepts the Bridge Building Award from the award’s namesake, ACerS Past President Mrityunjay Singh (center left). ICACC 2026 Program Chair Federico Smeacetto (left) and ECD Chair Amjad Almansour (right) stand alongside them. Yamazaki holds the Guinness World Record for “Most patents credited as inventor,” with the more than 20,000 patents focused primarily on semiconductor devices, thin-film transistors, and display technologies. Credit: ACerS
Following the award lectures, the first plenary speaker, Steven Zinkle, Governor’s Chair Professor for Nuclear Materials at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, described the recent increased interest in nuclear energy and the large amount of private investment in fusion start-ups. While ceramics will undoubtedly play a role in enabling this technology, “A lot needs to be done on the basic physical properties,” Zinkle said.
Silke Christiansen, head of the Department of Correlative Microscopy and Materials Data at Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, discussed the complexity of modern data acquisition and analysis. She gave an overview of Fraunhofer IKTS’s characterization and analysis capabilities and encouraged attendees to reach out to discuss possible collaborations.
Students enjoy professional development mixers, workshops, and competitions
Student attendees at ICACC 2026 benefited from several events aimed at improving their professional networks and critical thinking skills.
On Sunday, the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation hosted the popular IGNITE MSE professional development program, which this year is taking place at ICACC, ACerS Spring Meeting, and ACerS Annual Meeting at MS&T26. Following several icebreaking activities, students heard from Monica Ferraris of Politecnico di Torino, Russell Maier of NIST, and Federico Rosei of the University of Trieste about their experiences navigating a career in science.
On Monday, ACerS Journals Managing Editor Brittney Hauke virtually hosted a workshop on how to write and read journal articles with the help of Amit Bandyopadhyay and Susmita Bose, editor-in-chief and editor, respectively, of the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology. Included in the ethics section of the workshop were the do’s and don’ts of artificial intelligence, which is becoming an increasingly exigent topic in the world of scholarly publishing.
Students and young professionals had the opportunity to chat and relax during a networking mixer on Monday night, which also served as a photo opportunity for the 40 individuals participating in the Conference Mentor Program at ICACC. Then on Tuesday evening, everyone gathered for the fan-favorite Shot Glass Competition. This year’s ACerS President Mario Affatigato followed in his predecessor Monica Ferraris’s stead by going up in the lift to drop all the shot glasses during the event.
Finally, the ACerS Bulletin hosted an iPad giveaway this year to promote the magazine’s new LinkedIn page. ACerS student member Jaejun Heo won the giveaway, making for a special memory at his first-ever ICACC.
“I Falchi Della Notte” was the name of this year’s winning team of the Shot Glass Competition. The team members came from Politecnico di Torino in Italy, and here they stand with ACerS President Mario Affatigato (left) after their successful drop from the very top of the lift. Credit: ACerS
View more images from the conference on ACerS Flickr page. The 51st ICACC will take place Jan. 24–29, 2027, in Daytona Beach, Fla. See you next year!
