Professor Waltraud M. Kriven has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 ECD James I. Mueller Memorial Award. The Mueller award recognizes the enormous contributions of James I. Mueller to the Engineering Ceramics Division and the field of engineering ceramics. It is the intent of this award to recognize the accomplishments of individuals who have made similar contributions. Such contributions include long-term service to Engineering Ceramics and work in ceramics that has made a significant industrial, national, or academic impact. As recipient of the award, Professor Kriven is invited to the International Conference on Advanced Ceramics & Composites as a keynote speaker.
Professor Kriven received a PhD in 1976 in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Adelaide in South Australia and currently teaches MSE 420 (Ceramic Materials & Properties) and MSE 421 (Ceramic Processing). She has worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1984 and currently serves as a Full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, an Affiliate Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering, and an Affiliate Professor of Bioengineering. Professor Kriven has internationally recognized expertise in the areas of phase transformations in inorganic compounds, their applications in structural ceramic composites, ceramic powder synthesis and processing, and geopolymers. In addition, she has made extensive contributions to oxide composites design, microstructure characterization by electron microscopy techniques and phase equilibria.