This prestigious annual lecture is awarded to an individual who has significantly advanced the interrelationship between science, technology, and society.
The lecture is given each year by an internationally or nationally recognized individual from academia, industry or government. This annual lecture honors the late Professor Rustum Roy of The Pennsylvania State University and recognizes his contributions to science and technology and their interrelationship to society-at-large. The winner receives a certificate, up to $1,000 honorarium, and complimentary annual meeting registration.
Nomination Process
The nominee to be chosen should provide ACerS with a learned lecture at its Annual Meeting about the relationship between science and society. The Lecturer should be an accomplished speaker and communicate well to the mixed audience (members and visitors). The choice of Lecturer may be from within or outside of the ACerS and is an internationally or nationally recognized individual from academia, industry or government. Nominations can be submitted through the Awards Portal on the ACerS website.
Award Namesake
This annual lecture honors the late Professor Rustum Roy of The Pennsylvania State University and recognizes his contributions to science and technology and their interrelationship to society-at-large.
Rustum Roy was a major innovator of new materials synthesis techniques. Starting in 1948, he devised the solution sol-gel process for making pure nanoscale reactive powders for many important ceramic compositions. Roy’s seminal work in developing the sol-gel process and in identifying the phases of barium titanate, the most widely used material for capacitors, gained him worldwide recognition.
Roy also was innovative in his approach to materials science and among the first to recognize the necessity of bringing together scientists from many disciplines to work on solving difficult problems. This interdisciplinary approach was the underlying philosophy of the Materials Research Laboratory, which he led from 1962 to 1985. In 1969, he founded the Science, Technology and Society program at Penn State, which became a model for similar programs at universities across the nation.
Contact
Erica Zimmerman
ezimmerman@ceramics.org
Award Winners
Makio Naito
Makio Naito is a professor emeritus, The university of Osaka since 2023. He received his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Nagoya University in 1987. Then, he worked at Hosokawa Micron Corporation from 1982 to 1993, where he engaged in research and development on powder processing technology for advanced materials. He joined the Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya in 1993, where his work focused on powder characterization and powder processing technology in ceramics manufacturing. He became a professor of Joining and Welding Research Institute (JWRI) at Osaka University in 2002. He served as the President of The Society of Powder Technology, Japan from 2015 to 2019, and as the President of The Association of Powder Process Industry and Engineering, JAPAN since 2026. He is an Academician Member of the World Academy of Ceramics. He is a Fellow of the ACerS, and served as the BOD member during 2020-2003.