Richard K. Brow

Richard K. Brow is the Interim Provost for Academic Excellence and the Director of the Center for Biomedical Research at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO. Prior to my administrative appointment, I held the title Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Ceramic Engineering. I earned a BS degree in ceramic engineering and an MS degree in glass science from the NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and a PhD in ceramic science from the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to my joining the faculty at Missouri S&T in 1998, I was a member of the technical staff at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, NM, where I designed glasses for electronic, optoelectronic, and electrochemical devices.

For the past 23 years at Missouri S&T, I have had the opportunity, with my students in the lab and in the classroom, to try every day to learn something new about the nature of glass and how it can be used to solve engineering problems.  I have introduced hundreds of S&T students to the mysteries of glass, in introductory and upper level courses, and in the lab where for many, it was their first experience in pouring a silicate melt.  With my graduate students and colleagues from around the world, I have studied the relationships between glass composition, structure, and properties to design compositions for high powered lasers, nuclear waste encapsulation, sealants for fuel cells, and biomedical implants, among other applications. We have published over 200 peer-reviewed archival papers and I hold 15 US and international patents. My research has been recognized with a number of international awards, including the Gottardi Prize from the International Commission on Glass and the N.F. Mott Award from the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids.

I first joined the American Ceramic Society in 1978, and I have served the Society in a variety of roles since then, including as chair of the New Mexico Section and the Glass and Optical Materials Division, on the ACerS Board of Directors, and as ACerS President.  I currently serve on the Board of the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation. I have been recognized by ACerS in a number of ways, including the Schwartzwalder-Professional Achievement in Ceramic Engineering Award, the Morey Award for glass research, and the ACerS Education and Professional Development Council’s Outstanding Educator Award.

With my better half, Theresa, and our daughters Katie and Adelaide, I hope to continue to travel to engage with the worldwide glass community, find some new slopes to ski, and courses to golf, and hope against hope that the Bills make it back to the Super Bowl.