CGIF Receives $50,000 Grant from Corning Incorporated Foundation

The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation (CGIF) is pleased to announce receipt of a $50,000 grant from the Corning Incorporated Foundation to support the CGIF’s student outreach programs to increase awareness of ceramic and glass materials science among middle school and high school students in the United States.

This grant and partnership with the Corning Incorporated Foundation will allow the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation to introduce young people to the world of ceramic and glass materials. The Corning grant will specifically support the distribution of the CGIF’s Materials Science Classroom Kits, which introduce students to the basic classes of materials (ceramics, glass, composites, metals, and polymers) through fun and interactive lessons. The kits include nine materials science lessons – five teacher demonstrations and four student labs. Six of the lessons focus specifically on ceramic and glass materials.

Accompanying each kit is The Magic of Ceramics, a book which introduces the nontechnical reader to the many exciting applications of ceramics. The book describes how ceramic materials function, while teaching key scientific concepts like atomic structure, color, and the electromagnetic spectrum. The Magic of Ceramics contains numerous illustrations on the ways in which ceramics make advanced products possible, and also addresses newer areas in ceramics, such as nanotechnology.

With the backing of the Corning Incorporated Foundation, the CGIF will focus its outreach efforts on the middle schools and high schools located in the areas of the United States where Corning Incorporated operates, which includes approximately 165 middle schools and high schools in 17 target communities. The primary objective is to get the kits and books into the hands of educators who are excited to teach materials science to their students.