Imperial expert appointed first non-US President of American Ceramic Society

Imperial's materials expert Professor Bill Lee was appointed President of the American Ceramic Society on Monday.

Professor Bill Lee, an expert in ceramics and glass from the Department of Materials at Imperial College London, has become the first non-US president of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) in its 118 year history.

Founded in 1899, the ACerS is central to the ceramics community, and aims to advance the study, understanding and use of ceramic and glass materials for the benefit of its members and society. Professor Lee has worked extensively on producing next-generation materials capable of operating in extreme conditions, such as severe thermal and radioactive environments.

Current ACerS president, Mrityunjay Singh passing the ‘ceramic’ gavel to Bill Lee. Bill Lee will officially take up office on Thursday. (Photo credit – ACerS)

Professor Lee, who was until recently the Director of the Centre for Nuclear Engineering at Imperial, will be the Society’s first internationally appointed President. “It is appropriate that the President be from the international community now that 40% of ACerS members are from overseas,” said Professor Lee. “This shows that the Society is truly global. I am the first but I expect others from many other countries to follow.”

Professor Lee intends to continue to extend the global outlook of ACerS by establishing international chapters including one in the UK. He said “I look forward to using my presidency to showcase our College, Faculty of Engineering, and Department of Materials while travelling extensively”.

Professor Lee also plans to set up a prize for the best ceramics PhD student worldwide, and will encourage young scientists to be involved in ACerS plans and strategy, increase outreach about ceramics in schools, universities, industry itself, and overseas. He added: “My appointment emphasises the breadth and quality of Imperial’s ceramics research globally, and I hope to raise the profile of ceramics and glasses among our students and the UK engineering community.”

Professor Lee’s appointment is the latest in a long string of achievements, including being awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering and being appointed Deputy Chair for the Government Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM). Last year he appeared as an expert on ceramics on BBC2’s The Great Pottery Throwdown.

He has also been awarded prizes including the Rosenhain Medal (1999), Pfeil Award (2000) of the IOMMM, the Wakabayashi Prize (2004) of the Refractories Society of Japan and the Kingery Award of the American Ceramic Society (2012) and the Lee Hsun Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2014). In addition, he has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers and has been awarded research grants totalling over £50 million.