Emerging Opportunities in Ceramics: Reports from the 4 ^th International Congress on Ceramics

The American Ceramic Society, in collaboration \nwith the Ceramic Society of Japan and the European \nCeramic Society, and under the leadership of the International \nCeramic Federation, initiated a series of international \nbiennial Congresses on Ceramics and Glass in \n2006. The first Congress, held in Toronto, Canada, was \na global event designed to facilitate discussion and planning \nconcerning major issues that face the ceramic and \nglass industries, culminating in the development of a historic \ntechnology roadmap for ceramics, published by \nWiley. Building on the success of the first meeting, two \nsubsequent Congresses were organized in Verona in \n2008 and Osaka in 2010, each with roadmap activities \nand proceedings. The 4th International Congress on \nCeramics (ICC4), held in Chicago, Illinois from July 15 \nto 19, 2012, followed in the same vein. ICC4 was organized \nto address emerging opportunities in ceramics and \nglass disciplines in themes that included aerospace; biology \nand medicine; environment, energy, and transportation; \nelectronic, optical, and magnetic ceramics and their \ndevices; nanostructured ceramics; security and strategic \nmaterials; technology entrepreneurship; and workforce \ndevelopment. Ceramics and glass are key to enabling \ntechnology in all the aforementioned areas and offer the \npossibility of achieving greater efficiency, durability, and \nin many cases properties and functionality that cannot \nbe attained with any other class of materials.