Brazilian researcher receives one of the most important awards in the field of glass materials

Edgar Dutra Zanotto, coordinator of the Center for Teaching, Research and Innovation in Glass, was invited by the American Ceramic Society to give the Varshneya Frontiers of Glass Science Lecture.

Agência FAPESP – Professor Edgar Dutra Zanotto, from the Department of Materials Engineering of the Federal University of São Carlos (DEMa-UFSCar) in Brazil, has been honored by the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) with the Varshneya Frontiers of Glass Science Lecture, one of the most important awards in the field of glass materials science.

At UFSCar, Zanotto coordinates the Center for Teaching, Research and Innovation in Glass (CeRTEV), a FAPESP Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC).

The Frontiers of Glass Science Lecture is awarded annually to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of glass materials science. The list of previous lecturers since 2013 includes leading names from the United States, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.

“This international recognition represents a significant milestone for glass materials science in Brazil. It consolidates our work of almost five decades and crystallizes DEMa as one of the world leaders in this field. Together with researchers from UFSCar and USP [University of São Paulo] in São Carlos, we publish around 1% of all indexed articles on glass materials in the world. Knowing that our efforts are being noticed and appreciated on a global scale is extremely gratifying,” Zanotto told Agência FAPESP.

As a result of the award, the professor will deliver the lecture “Unraveling Crystal Nucleation in Supercooled Liquids and Glasses” in Las Vegas, United States, May 19-24.

“Our talk will be an opportunity to share our recent research and advances in the understanding of glass materials over the last few decades. We’ll present a critical and comprehensive review of structural relaxation and glass crystallization, two phenomena that are part of the very definition and are the basis for understanding the glassy state of matter,” said the CeRTEV coordinator.

Zanotto also points out that this honor is also the result of the work of several students and researchers, as well as the support of FAPESP: “I’d like to express my deep gratitude to my many students and collaborators, whose commitment and dedication have been fundamental to the success of our research. I must also mention our funders, especially FAPESP, which has supported us for more than four decades.”