Winter Workshop 2017
The 2017 ACerS Winter Workshop took place Wednesday, January 18 through Sunday, January 22, 2017, at the DoubleTree by Hilton at SeaWorld Conference Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
The annual event is designed for ceramic and glass students and young professionals from around the world. This year, the European Ceramic Society provided 15 travel grants for international students. The workshop provides a combination of technical and professional development sessions, outstanding networking opportunities, and this year concluded with a tour of the Kennedy Space Center.
Winter Workshop participants were able to attend all events of Electronic Materials and Applications (EMA) 2017, an international conference focused on electroceramic materials and their applications in electronic, electromechanical, magnetic, dielectric and optical components, devices and systems.
The Winter Workshop morning session featured experts in the field; presentations included “The Ferroelectric Capacitor as a Circuit 
Component” by Joe Evans of Radiant Technologies; “What You Can Learn with X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy” by Dr. Mikel Holcomb of West Virginia University; and “Investigating Ceramics with Impedance Spectroscopy” by Dr. Shen Dillon (above) of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Students enjoyed lunch together and were greeted by a special guest, Dr. Francis Cambier, of the European Ceramic Society.
The afternoon session, “Developing a Career in the Field of Ceramic and Glass Materials”, was a professional development opportunity in which a panel of industry leaders shared their experiences and guidance in small group settings designed to foster understanding of the professional world and create a unique 
networking opportunity. The panelists were Dr. Edward Gorzkowski of Naval Research Labs, Dr. James Trevey of ForgeNano, Dr. Paula Vilarinho of the University of Aveiro, Dr. Abhijit Pramanick of the City University of Hong Kong, and Dr. Anupama Yadav of the University of Central Florida. Dr. Gorzkowski also presented “Ceramics Careers All Over the World; Dr. Trevey presented “Critical Business Knowledge for the Early-Career Engineer”; and Dr. Pramanick presented “Networking With and Without a Beer”.
The Winter Workshop would not be possible without the support of The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation, the ACerS President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA), the Young Professionals Network (YPN), and the European Ceramic Society (ECerS).
Next year’s Winter Workshop will be held in conjunction with the 42nd International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC18) at Daytona Beach, Florida, January 21 – 26.