The Bioceramics Young Scholar Award recognizes excellence in research among current degree-seeking graduate students and postdoctoral research associates.
Nomination Process
A letter from a faculty advisor or postdoctoral advisor verifying compliance to this rule must accompany the application.
All applicants are required to submit two abstracts:
- Submit one short abstract to a bioceramics-focused symposium via the MS&T abstract submission site. The short abstract will be used for organizing the technical program of the MS&T meeting.
- Submit a second, extended abstract (2,000 words maximum plus figures and tables) to the bioceramics division chair for evaluation by the division’s awards committee. The extended abstract should contain a summary of the nominee’s work (approximately 2,000 words plus figures) relevant to the interests of the division.
The nomination profile should also include:
- Nominee’s latest CV
- Two supporting letters
The award will be presented at the ACerS Annual Meeting/MS&T. All Young Scholar Award applicants are expected to submit an abstract for either a poster or an oral presentation in a bioceramics-focused symposium at the meeting.
The award winner will present an invited oral presentation at a bioceramics-focused symposium at the MS&T conference. The awardee shall receive a certificate, glass piece, and complimentary registration.
The deadline for nominations is January 31 in the year preceding the MS&T conference.
Contact
Nominations, including a written statement of the nominee’s qualifications and contributions, should be sent to the division chair:
Annabel Braem
KU Leuven
Award Winners
Sayoni Sarkar
Dr. Sayoni Sarkar is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich. She earned her B. Tech in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirappalli, India in 2019. Shortly thereafter, she was selected as a Prime Minister’s Research Fellow (PMRF) in July 2019, which enabled her to pursue her doctoral studies at the Centre for Research in Nanotechnology and Science (CRNTS), IIT Bombay. She was awarded her Ph.D. in August 2024 for her research on developing and lab-to-clinic translation of defect-engineered oxide bioceramics for ultraviolet photoprotection and cancer therapeutics.
Driven by a profound interest in synthesizing novel biomimetic nanostructures, Sayoni’s doctoral work centered on the rational design, scale-up, and characterization of oxygen-deficient ZnO and CeO2-based ceramics and their composites. Her investigations provided new perspectives on micro- and millifluidics-assisted continuous flow synthesis of these nanocrystals at gram-scale quantities, unlocking promising avenues in defect chemistry-mediated skin UV protection, photothermal cancer therapeutics, and advanced bioimaging. By harnessing the interplay between native oxygen vacancies and photophysical and photobiological responses, she conducted systematic studies to elucidate the structure–property–performance relationships in oxide nanoceramics. These strategies laid the foundation for next-generation sunscreen active ingredients aimed at skin cancer prevention, thereby challenging the long-standing paradigm that defects in materials are intrinsically detrimental. One of the hallmarks of her Ph.D. research was unravelling how the sub-band defect states in nano-ZnO and CeO2(x)/ZnO(1-x) composites could be tuned to mediate broad-spectrum photoprotection (250-400 nm), in situ O2-driven cell proliferation and combat photoaging. The translational potential of her work lies in addressing sustainable development goals (SDGs), with an emphasis on universal access to affordable and equitable healthcare (SDG-3).
At the time of her postdoctoral stint at IIT Bombay, Sayoni delved into modulating the surface chemistry of stimuli-responsive bioceramics and exploring their optical, mechanical, physico-chemical, and biological characteristics for dental applications. Her findings demonstrated that an enhanced concentration of oxygen vacancies facilitated the remineralization process of dental tissues, presenting a conceptually different route for the treatment of periodontitis. Building on this, she joined ETH Zurich in May 2025 as a postdoctoral researcher to continue her work on microfluidics-informed synthesis and high-throughput toxicity profiling of nanoceramics using single particle time-of-flight inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (TOF-ICP-MS).
During her doctoral and postdoctoral tenure at IIT Bombay, Sayoni was distinguished by her selection to several competitive programs, fellowships, and grants and won many national and international accolades including, the CAS Future Leaders Program 2023, ACS LEADS 2024 and Optica Student Leadership 2024. She secured second prize in the “New Generation Ideation Contest-2023” organized by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), India, and her research was featured in the top 10 innovations at the Global Innovation Summit 2021, jointly organized by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council – BIRAC (Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India). She has published several peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, and book chapters in journals of international repute and presented her work at national and international conferences.
Beyond her lab bench, Sayoni is involved in numerous outreach activities and aspires to cultivate a research ecosystem that upholds student well-being, celebrates diversity, amplifies individual voices, and nurtures the growth of inquisitive, solution-driven thinkers. True to her vision, since 2020, she has contributed to teaching and supporting the students of the University of Mumbai with the “Hands-on Materials Characterization” course, as part of her PMRF fellowship deliverables. A firm believer in nurturing underrepresented talent in STEM, she advocates for inclusive science and actively volunteers with Catalyst, a non-profit in West Bengal, India, focused on empowering marginalized communities through education. Sayoni has also served as a former mentor in the “Summer of Science” program organized by the Maths and Physics Club of IIT Bombay, guiding undergraduate students to gain insights into the broad field of nanotechnology.