The award aims to foster a culture of educational outreach and community engagement. It recognizes the critical role college students play in inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators in the ceramic and glass materials field.
Undergraduate or graduate students who have, through outreach to K-12 students, inspired the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators in the ceramic and glass materials field, are eligible for this award. It is given annually to two undergraduate or graduate student members of the ceramic and glass materials community. The awardee(s) will receive a certificate, a $2,000 award honorarium, and registration waiver to attend the ACerS Annual Meeting. The award will be presented at the ACerS Annual Meeting Awards Banquet.
Nomination Process
Nominations must consist of a concise description of the outreach activities (200 word maximum) that outlines its significance in terms of inspiring younger students to consider a career in the ceramic and glass materials field. A maximum of two one-page supplementary documents that would aid in the evaluation process are also requested. The supplementary documents can be letters of recommendation or evidence of outreach activities.
Nominations not selected will be considered in following years (up to five years).
Award Namesake
The David W. Richerson Educational Outreach Award was established through a gift from David W. Richerson, Richerson & Associates. David Richerson is a leading expert in the field of ceramics. He is an early pioneer in the development of high-strength silicon nitride, introducing grain boundary engineering and the use of fracture surface analysis to improve materials.
Contact
Erica Zimmerman
ezimmerman@ceramics.org
Award Winners
Fox Thorpe
Fox Thorpe is a founding engineer and materials scientist at Calectra in Oakland, California, a startup developing electrical solutions for high-temperature industrial heat applications. Fox earned his PhD in chemical engineering from UC Davis, where he studied the thermophysical properties of materials at high temperatures in the McCormack Lab, and his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky. He also conducted research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Materials Science Division, developing materials for extreme environment applications.
Fox is an active member of The American Ceramic Society in the Refractory Ceramics Division and the Northern California Section. As a student, he was a delegate of the ACerS President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA). He continues outreach work with teachers in California and Kentucky.
Katelyn (Katie) Kirchner
Katelyn (Katie) Kirchner is currently a Glass Process Scientist at CelSian Inc. in Toledo, Ohio, USA. CelSian is a consultancy company for glass manufacturers and their suppliers, and as such Katelyn works on projects ranging from fundamental precompetitive research to applied process control in manufacturing plants. Katelyn earned her Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. Katelyn is a 2021-2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, 2019 Astronaut Scholar, 2020 Alfred R. Cooper Young Scholar, 2020 Penn State Alumni Association Scholar, and 2022 International Year of Glass (IYoG) Future Fellow, with 8 years of experience computationally investigating spatiotemporal fluctuations in disordered materials.
During her academic studies, Katelyn also earned the Graduate Student Teaching Certificate (May 2022) and Graduate Student Online Teaching Certificate (June 2021), which she now uses as an industrial trainer at CelSian Academy. Katelyn had three internships at Corning Incorporated and was an invited Visiting Scholar at Hokkaido University, Japan (6 months) and the University of Jena, Germany (1 week).
Katelyn is also an active member of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and European Ceramic Society (ECerS). Katelyn is the current ACerS Young Professional Network liaison for the GOMD executive board and current US representative for the ECerS Young Ceramics Network. From 2018-2023, Katelyn served as a delegate for the ACerS President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA) and since 2021, Katelyn has co-organized student events for the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Glass and Optical Materials Division (GOMD) annual conferences.