Three Alfred University alumni named ACerS 2021 award winners

ALFRED, NY – Three Alfred University alumni were recognized as winners of the recently-announced American Ceramic Society (ACerS) 2021 Awards.

The annual awards were published in ACerS September 2021 bulletin. Alfred University alumni recognized were: Kathleen Richardson ’82, ’88 M.S., ’92 Ph.D., Distinguished Life Member Award, and ECerS (European Ceramic Society)-ACerS Joint Award; Victoria Blair ’08, ’14 Ph.D., Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars and Du-Co Ceramics Young Professional Award; and Joseph Cesarano ’83, Rishi Raj Medal for Innovation and Commercialization.

Richardson earned bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in ceramic engineering and a master’s degree in glass science from Alfred University and is a member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees. She is Pegasus Professor of Optics and Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Optics and Photonics at UCF, where she runs the Glass Processing and Characterization Laboratory.

In 2018, Richardson was appointed a Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) professor for her ongoing commitments to education and research supporting industry. That same year, she was named recipient of the Pegasus Professor Award, the highest academic honor given by UCF, a R1 (research level 1) university with more than 61,000 undergraduates, more than 10,000 graduate students and more than 1,900 faculty.

Richardson is one of just three Distinguished Life Member honorees for 2021 (Page 29 of the ACerS bulletin). ACerS describes the honor as “the most prestigious of ACerS awards.” The ECerS-ACerS Joint Award (Page 35 of the ACerS bulletin) “recognizes individuals who foster international cooperation (between ECerS and ACerS), in demonstration of both organizations’ commitment to work together to better serve the international ceramics community.”

Blair earned bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, both in ceramic engineering, from Alfred University. She is a materials engineer at DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.

The Coble Award for Young Scholars (Page 33 of the ACerS bulletin) “recognizes an outstanding scientist who is conducting research in academia, in industry, or at a government-funded laboratory.” The Du-Co Ceramics Young Professional Award (Page 34 of the ACerS bulletin) is “given to a young professional member of ACerS who demonstrates exceptional leadership and service to ACerS.”

Cesarano earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University and is a member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees. He is president of Robocasting Enterprises, LLC, in Albuquerque, NM. In 1996, Cesarano co-invented the robocasting technology used for extrusion-based additive manufacturing (3-D printing) of ceramics. His current focus is on commercialization of robocasting for large-scale ceramic and composites.

The Rishi Raj Medal for Innovation and Commercialization (Page 34 of the ACerS bulletin) “is awarded annually to recognize an individual whose innovation lies at the cusp of commercialization in a field related, at least in part, to ceramics and glass.”