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:
Kalpana Katti
North Dakota State University
Award Winners
Nicolas Somers
Dr. Nicolas Somers started his scientific career at the University of Liège in Belgium where he obtained a Bachelor (2016) and a master’s degree (2018) in chemical sciences. His master thesis concerned the additive manufacturing of hydroxyapatite by stereolithography in order to produce bone and dental grafts. After his master graduation, Nicolas Somers was selected as an early-stage researcher within the European DOC 3D Printing project (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017) and started his PhD at the CERAMATHS lab from the Polytechnic University of Hauts-De-France (UPHF) in France. His PhD research was about developing doped calcium phosphate powders in order to increase their thermal stability and optimize their biological properties under the supervision of Professor Anne Leriche. The other aspect of his work was to study adequate formulations to print 3D scaffolds by robocasting intended for the medical sector in collaboration with the Belgian Ceramic Research Centre (Mons, Belgium) and Dr. Fabrice Petit.
After the PhD, Somers left France to become a Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Dr. Mark Losego at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA). His work at Georgia Tech was part of a ONR project called “Exploration of new chemistries and processes for additive manufacturing of ceramics”. The objective of this project was to develop a single-step, low-temperature AM process for ceramics with the help of new chemistries and processes. Nicolas was particularly interested in phosphate binders that can create bonds with ceramic particles at low curing temperature, combining binders with ceramic particles and photonic curing methods like xenon flash lamp and infrared lamp.
After 18 months at Georgia Tech, Dr. Somers came back at GREEnMat (University of Liège, Belgium) as a Postdoctoral researcher and leader of the Additive Manufacturing group. Nicolas is working of the production/optimization of metallic and ceramic powders as well as bioactive glass suitable for their use in AM for added value applications. Particular attention is paid to the sustainable manufacturing of multimaterials using feedstock from the circular economy.
Dr. Nicolas Somers has published more than 10 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals and 2 chapters of encyclopedia (h-index of 6). He has presented more than 20 posters or oral communications in national and international conferences. Dr. Somers was also guest editor for the journal Open Ceramics. Nicolas was awarded different scientific prizes : 2018 Best student award given by the Association of Chemists from the University of Liège, winner of the French ECerS grant to attend the 2020 ACerS Winter Workshop, Best Poster Award of the annual meeting of the French Ceramic Society 2021 and the Best Lightning Talk Overall at the Fall 2022 Georgia Tech Postdoctoral Research Symposium.
In addition to his research work, Nicola Somers is involved in networking activities for young researchers since 2020 when he joined the Young Ceramists Network which aims to promote interactions between young students and professionals currently doing research on Ceramics. Beside his networking activities in Europe, Nicolas joined for one year the ACerS President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA) in the External Partnership Committee.