Dr. Richard Brow, Curators’ Professor of Ceramic Engineering and chair of the materials science and engineering department at the University of Missouri-Rolla, has been named director of the American Ceramic Society. Brow’s term on the society’s board of directors will run through fall of 2009.

The American Ceramic Society is a non-profit organization that has served the professional needs of the international ceramics community for 108 years. The society has more than 7,500 members, including engineers, scientists, manufacturers, educators, sales professionals and others.

Brow is known internationally for his research on the properties and applications of glasses, including glasses used for laser amplifiers and for sealing solid oxide fuel cells. In 2004, Brow was named a Curators’ Professor by the University of Missouri Board of Curators. The designation is bestowed upon scholars at the university’s four campuses who have established outstanding reputations in their fields of study.

Brow joined UMR in 1998 as a professor of ceramic engineering and a senior investigator in the UMR Graduate Center for Materials Research. He became chair of the ceramic engineering department in 2001 and later became chair of the materials science and engineering department, which was created with the combination of UMR’s ceramic and metallurgical engineering departments.

Prior to joining UMR, Brow was on the technical staff of the Ceramics Development Division at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., from 1985-1998. He also served as an adjunct professor of chemical and nuclear engineering at the University of New Mexico from 1990-1996.

Brow received a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering in 1980 and a master’s degree in glass science in 1982, both from Alfred University in New York. He received a Ph.D. in ceramic science from Pennsylvania State University in 1985.

During his career, Brow has earned several UMR teaching awards and his research has led to many national and international awards. He has also published more than 90 scholarly articles and holds nine U.S. patents.