David J. Green is Emeritus Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. He has over 40 years of experience in ceramic research.  After graduating from the University of Liverpool, England with a B.Sc. in 1970, he completed his graduate studies at McMaster University, Canada (1977). In these studies, he worked on microstructural aspects of fracture in ceramic materials. In particular, he demonstrated the importance of microcracking in the fracture of zirconia-based materials and also developed a specialized technique (ultrasonic fractography) for studying crack-particle interactions in brittle materials.
    
In 1975, Dr. Green joined the Canadian Federal Government to work in the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. The primary emphasis of this work was concerned with the preparation of ultrafine, homogeneous ceramic powders for the fabrication of solid electrolytes for use in energy conversion and storage systems.
    
Joining Rockwell International Science Center in 1979, Dr. Green continued to study the relation between fabrication, microstructure and the properties of ceramic materials. This research included microcracking in ceramics, reliability of ceramics in structural design, failure analysis, micromechanical theory, fabrication and evaluation of transformation-toughened ceramics, surface stresses in ceramics and the mechanical behavior of lightweight ceramics. In this last category, he studied the mechanical reliability of the thermal protection system of the space shuttles.

In 1984, Dr. Green joined The Pennsylvania State University and combined his research on the mechanical behavior of ceramics with teaching.  His studies on the mechanical behavior of porous ceramics during sintering or in use and in designing residual stresses to strengthen and arrest cracks in brittle materials has gained significant global attention. He was promoted to Professor in 1991. In 1992, Dr. Green became Program Chair for two degree options, both of which involve the organization of the undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Dr. Green has authored or co-authored more than 220 publications including two books, ‘Transformation Toughening of Ceramics,” and “Introduction to the Mechanical Properties of Ceramics.” The second of these books has recently been translated into Korean and Chinese.  Dr. Green is an active member of The American Ceramic Society, which currently includes the position of Senior Journal Editor. In 1991, he was made a Fellow of the Society and acted as Vice President for Publications from 1994 to 1996. He was elected Society President in 2013.  In addition to numerous invited and plenary talks, Dr. Green has been granted three US patents.  

In 1994, Dr. Green was chair for the Gordon Research Conference, Solid State Studies in Ceramics. In 1998, Dr. Green received an EPSRC Fellowship to visit Oxford University in the UK.  Dr. Green was elected to be a Fellow of the Canadian Ceramic Society and Academician in the World Academy of Ceramics. In 2005, he was awarded the Sosman Award from The American Ceramic Society and in 2006 he became an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. As part of this latter award, he has performed research at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany during the period 2006 to 2008. In 2009, Dr. Green received the Lee Hsun Lecture Award from The Institute of Metals Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.