Conference: 2025 Professional Development Workshop in Ceramics

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The goal of the 2025 Professional Development Workshop in Ceramics is to support the career and professional development of participants representing a wide cross-section of the ceramic materials community. The workshop is designed to provide recent CAREER awardees and early investigators in the Ceramics (CER) program within the NSF Division of Materials Research as well as young investigators seeking funding from the CER program with mentorship and feedback on their research and outreach activities. Participants include senior, mid-career, and early-career researchers (including assistant professors, post-doctoral researchers, and senior PhD students) in ceramics. The intensive, two-day workshop features presentations from CAREER awardees and early investigators with ample time provided for feedback and discussion. Panel discussions and breakout sessions cover topics such as emerging trends in ceramics research, data management, mentoring & advising, networking & professional development, as well as how to strengthen broader impacts. A poster session is providing all the early career attendees an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback from senior faculty and other workshop attendees. The workshop is also enriching early investigator’s perspective on research and education programming through community building, mentorship, and interpersonal interactions. In addition, researchers at all levels are benefitting from focused interactions and networking during the workshop. These outcomes provide a base of support that helps young investigators succeed in becoming outstanding researchers and educators while strengthening the broader ceramic materials research community. TECHNICAL DETAILS: The 2025 Professional Development Workshop in Ceramics focuses on three technical topics: 1) ion conduction through complex solid-state electrochemical interfaces, 2) design of ceramic microstructures by control of grain boundary motion, and 3) design of ferroelectric semiconductors. Together, these research areas are assembling a wide array of topics within the umbrella of ceramics science. Those participating in the workshop will encourage new idea generation at the intersection of these different disciplines and receive helpful guidance on how to advance the matters adjacent to successful research such as: data management, mentoring & advising, networking & professional development, as well as strengthening broader impacts. The invited early career faculty and technical experts are facilitating guided scientific and professional discussions for the purpose of critically evaluating the research plans, career development, and education efforts of presenters and poster session participants . The intellectual merit derives from the topics covered and the broader impacts flow from the professional development made available to a wide swath of participants from across the varied ceramics field. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.