Gary Fischman, director of National Academies’ boards dealing with Materials, Manufacturing and Infrastructure, was the 2009 Arthur L. Friedberg Memorial Lecturer at the recent ACerS Annual Meeting and MS&T’09 conference. Here is how he described the topics he covers in his lecture:

“From the beginning of the 20th century to its end, the ways in which we perceived, viewed, studied, taught and engineered materials changed enormously. Ceramics went from infancy to a science-based technology alongside metallurgy. In that time, we saw the emergence of other materials technologies, such as engineered composites, polymers and biologics. Putting our growing understanding of ceramics, metals, polymers and composites together, we have moved to a more integrated and complex worldview that discusses materials science and engineered materials. As we move into the 21st century, many of the ways in which we analyzed, modeled and engineered ceramics are changing rapidly, giving way to new and other ways of developing our materials.”

Fischman joined the National Academies staff as board director in 2005 after serving a three-year term on the National Materials Advisory Board. Before joining the National Academies, Fischman spent time at Alfred University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also was in the government with the Food and Drug Administration and in industry as co-founder of Xylon Ceramic Materials and an independent consultant. He earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from the Department of Ceramic Engineering in 1979, 1983 and 1985, respectively.

Fischman is the author of more than 40 papers, and is a speaker on materials for biomedical applications and broad issues of materials, manufacturing and infrastructure. He has been active in both The American Ceramic Society and the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers. As a member of ACerS, he holds various leadership roles, including a term on the Board of Directors, chair of the Engineering Ceramics Division, chair of the Member Services Committee and an associate editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. He has served as NICE president, as the NICE member of the ABET board of directors and the NICE Governor to the American Association of Engineering Societies.

Fischman is a recipient of the Karl Schwartzwalder-PACE award and is a Fellow of The American Ceramic Society and the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers.

Fischman is also a member of ASTM (where he is an associate editor of the Journal of ASTM International), ASM and TMS.

54 minutes.

CTT Categories

  • Biomaterials & Medical
  • Electronics
  • Energy
  • Material Innovations
  • Nanomaterials

Spotlight Categories

  • Member Highlights