This award was established by the late Reldon Cooper, co-founder of Du-Co Ceramics, and is awarded to a young professional member of ACerS who demonstrates exceptional leadership and service to ACerS. This year’s award winner is Dr. Lisa M. Rueschhoff.
Dr. Lisa M. Rueschhoff is a Materials Research Engineer in the Ceramics Branch of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. She received her B.S. in Materials Engineering from Iowa State University in 2013 and her Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Purdue University in 2017. She joined AFRL as a National Research Councl (NRC) Postdoctoral Fellow in 2017, and became a government civilian member of AFRL in 2018.
Lisa’s current research focuses on advanced processing methods for high-temperature structural ceramics and composites, especially additive manufacturing. Her work addresses processing and performance improvements to enable next generation ceramics for aerospace applications. Since 2015, Lisa has authored or co authored 17 peer-reviewed publications, 2 patents, and one book chapter. And she has given over 30 presentations at research conferences, universities, and national laboratories. Personal recognition includes the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2014), ACerS Graduate Excellence in Materials Science (GEMS) Award (Sapphire 2016), and Purdue Materials Engineering Outstanding Graduating Graduate Student Award (2017). In 2019 she was an inaugural recipient of the ACerS International Jubilee Global Diversity Award for her contributions to the field of ceramics, demonstrated commitment to mentoring students/young professionals, and promotion of ACerS in the broader community. She was also an invited participant in the 2019 National Academies of Engineering US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium for her demonstrated accomplishments in research to advance the frontiers of engineering. Lisa has been an active member of ACerS throughout her career, starting in graduate school with leadership in the President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA). She served first as the Communications Committee Chair in 2014 when she led the Committee in efforts that included student-written articles in the ACerS Bulletin. The following year she was elected Chair of the PCSA and led the group of ~50 ACerS student leaders from around the world in efforts to engage and support students in the Society. Lisa was also a co-organizer of the inaugural ACerS Winter Workshop, paired with the International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC) in 2015 and co-sponsored by PCSA and the Young Professionals Network (YPN). Along with the team of PCSA/YPN organizers, Lisa developed the outline, scope, and content of the Workshop in addition to chairing sessions. The successful launch in 2015, with forty students and young professionals from around the world, solidified the Winter Workshop as a yearly student event for ACerS. Lisa served again as co-organizer in 2017, when the Workshop returned to ICACC. As a testament to this leadership and service to ACerS, Lisa was honored by being named an ACerS Global Ambassador in 2017 and recognized in December 2021’s ACerS Volunteer Spotlight.
Lisa currently supports PCSA by serving as Mentor to the Programming Committee (2019-present). She also personally mentors students through the ACerS PCSA Mentor Program (2018-present), which pairs students and professionals one-on-one for career development.
Lisa is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology (2019 – present) and is a reviewer for the Journal of the American Ceramic Society (2016 – present). She serves as Chair of the Member Services Committee (2020-2024; member 2018-2020) and is a member of the Strategic Planning for Emerging Opportunities Committee (2020-2024 Member Services representative; 2016-2019 general member). Quite notably she is Program Co-Chair of the 10th International Congress on Ceramics (ICCC’10) to be held in Montreal in July 2024 and has actively supported ACerS conferences for many years.