Engineered Structural Ceramic Materials:

Novel Methods for Increasing Toughness, Wear Resistance and Thermal Shock

Hilmas Greg_125Greg Hilmas joined the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) in 1998 as a tenure-track Assistant Professor.  He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in September of 2004, promoted to Full Professor in September of 2007, and then promoted to Curators’ Professor of Ceramic Engineering by the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri System in January of 2012.  He received his BS in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1986, his MS in Ceramic Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1989, and his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1993. Prior to joining Missouri S&T in 1998, he worked as the Composite Materials Manager at Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc., a small ceramic R&D company in Tucson, AZ.  

Prof. Hilmas’ research expertise lies in the area of processing-microstructure-mechanical property relationships in structural ceramics. He has been awarded more than $20M in research contracts from more than 25 different funding agencies and private companies over the past 18 years. His current research, predominantly funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and private industry, involves the development of ultrahigh temperature ceramics for propulsion and thermal protection applications. He also has active research programs in rapid prototyping of 3D structural ceramics and bioceramics for bone replacement.

Prof. Hilmas is a member of The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and was elevated to Fellow of ACerS in 2009. He is also a member of TMS, ASM International, and Keramos.  He has served for ACerS as Chair of the sub-committee on the Orton Memorial Lecture and Award, Member of the Nominating Committee, Member of the Jeppson Award Committee, Past President of the Ceramic Educational Council, and is currently President of the Keramos National Board of Directors.  He is the author or co-author of more than 110 refereed papers, holds ten U.S. patents, and has three patents pending for the development of novel ceramic and composite architectures.  He received an R&D100 Award in 2002 for the development of diamond/metal co-extruded composites now being manufactured in Italy for the petroleum drilling industry.  He has also received ten campus-wide Outstanding Teaching Awards from Missouri S&T, three Sustained Excellence in Teaching Awards from Missouri S&T, and eleven consecutive Faculty Excellence Awards from Missouri S&T for excellence in teaching, research, and service.