Amy Bolon, doctoral student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, is a leading example of women pushing the boundaries in engineering research and leadership. For the second year in a row, she represented Texas A&M at the Materials Science & Technology (MS&T) conference in Columbus, Ohio.
Bolon talked to an audience from universities and industries from across the globe at the “Advances in Ceramics, Glasses, and Composites by Women, their Mentors and their Mentees” symposium. Her presentation included her experience as an undergraduate and graduate engineering student at Texas A&M. She talked about the results of the research she and Peipei Gao, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, are conducting on mechanical behavior of oxide ceramics for solid oxide fuel cells.
“We also discussed how women can help each other and how the ceramics community as a whole can work to increase the number of women in science and engineering,” said Bolon.
Bolon is completing her research under the supervision of Dr. Miladin Radovic, associate professor and associate department head in materials science and engineering. She has published two peer-reviewed articles with more currently under review.
“Bolon is doing pioneering work on understanding why some of solid state ionic conductors dissipates large portion of mechanical energy when exposed to external loading,” said Radovic. “This phenomena is very unusual for elastically stiff ceramics and its understanding paves the road to new sensing applications of this class of ceramic”
Bolon is also the president of the Texas A&M Material Advantage Chapter, the founder and president of Women in Materials Science and she recently stepped down as the recruitment chair of the American Ceramic Society’s President’s Council of Student Advisers (ACerS PCSA) after serving in the position for two years.
“It was great to be part of this new symposium that celebrates the contributions of women in ceramics,” said Bolon. “The whole day was a very rewarding experience.”
MS&T is a leading forum addressing structure, properties, processing and performance across the materials community organized by The American Ceramic Society, Association for Iron and Steel Technology, ASM International and The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.