Mario Affatigato, Fran Allison and Francis Halpin Professor of Physics at Coe College, will deliver the annual Scholes Lecture at Alfred University, on Thursday, April 23, at 11:20 a.m. in Holmes Auditorium, Harder Hall.
In addition to the lecture, Alfred University’s Inamori School of Engineering will host a number of associated events. They include a memorial for the late James Thiebaud, technician in the Inamori School of Engineering who passed away last summer, and the annual Undergraduate Research Forum, in which students from all Alfred University’s academic units will present posters on their research projects.
Affatigato obtained his undergraduate degree from Coe College in 1989, followed by his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1995. He has developed a research effort primarily investigating the relationship between the optical properties and structure of glassy materials. He has worked with over 100 undergraduates in projects that include laser-induced modification and exotic manufacturing methods like aerolevitation. His research primarily deals with oxide glasses, especially vanadates, borates, and samples with heavy metals.
His lecture is titled “Strange Transformations: Nontraditional Techniques for Fabricating Glass.” From the abstract of the lecture: “Glass is, by nature, a material with an amorphous structure. In its long history, this disordered state has been achieved by slowly cooling specific inorganic precursors—such as silica sand with alkali modifiers. More exotic glass families can be formed under the right conditions, however.”
In Affatigato’s presentation, he will cover traditional thermodynamic methods (roller and splat quenching, spray cooling), levitation techniques of various kinds, chemical methods, and mechanical/optical strategies for creating disorder in the solid state. Methods used by living organisms (such as sponges and diatoms) will also be discussed. “Each laboratory method has unique advantages and disadvantages, and some rely on the presence of impurities or on partial success. The group at Coe College has pioneered some of these approaches, and examples of glasses (viz., pure TeO2, high-alkali-content ‘invert’ glasses, aluminates, etc.) that have traditionally been difficult to manufacture will be discussed,” according to the abstract.
Affatigato is a past recipient of the APS Prize for Research at an Undergraduate Institution, a PECASE award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a SEED Award from the Research Corporation, as well as other research grants from industry, NSF and the Research Corporation. He is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), for which he currently serves as president, and the UK Society of Glass Technology, and a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar. Currently he holds the Fran Allison and Francis Halpin Professorship at Coe College and is the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Applied Glass Science.
Following is the schedule of events including the Scholes Lecture on April 23:
- Memorial for James Thiebaud, Paul Vickers Gardner Glass Center, Binns Merrill Hall, Second Floor, 10-11 a.m.
- Scholes Lecture, Holmes Auditorium, Harder Hall: 11:20 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
- Poster Session honoring James Shelby, emeritus John F. McMahon Professor of Ceramic Engineering, McMahon Engineering Building, Second Floor infill area, 2-3:30 p.m. Shelby joined the faculty of the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in May 1982 as an associate professor of glass science. He was promoted to professor in 1985 and was named the McMahon Professor of Ceramic Engineering in 1998. He received the G.W. Morey Award for his research on gas diffusion in glasses in 1975, chaired the Gordon Conference on Glass in 1985, and was named a Fellow of the ACerS in 1986.
- Undergraduate Research Forum, Joyce and Walton Center, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The Scholes Lecture Series was established in 1982 by alumni of Alfred University to honor the late Samuel R. Scholes, who in 1932 established the first glass science program in the United States at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He served as dean, associate dean, head of the Department of Glass Technology, and professor of glass science.
