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Over the past decade, Mertz has guided Cerion’s evolution into a recognized leader in custom nanomaterial design, scale-up, and manufacturing. Throughout that time, Cerion has remained a strong supporter of USACA, co-sponsoring key events and actively participating in the association’s working groups.
Mertz also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Nanotechnology Industries Association, which aims to be “the definitive global voice of the nanomaterials” and to promote “a world where nanomaterials are integrated seamlessly into our global economy for the benefit of industry and society.”
Foundational Principles: We recently sat down with Mertz to discuss his vision for USACA, the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, and his goals as the association's new Vice Chair.
“Materials have always tended to be too much of an afterthought when it comes to innovation and innovation funding,” he said. “Materials are the foundation upon which everything else is built. The government needs to be looking ahead much more to what material types might be needed in the future, and how they are going to be fused into the broader industrial base.”
The Boron Carbide Challenge: A particular area of focus for Mertz is strengthening the U.S. supply chain for advanced ceramics. He plans to continue raising awareness of the need for greater investment in boron carbide, an exceptionally hard ceramic material used across aerospace, defense, nuclear energy, and advanced manufacturing applications.
“Eighty percent of our domestic consumption is coming from China today,” he said.
That dependence creates significant national security concerns. “It’s going into body armor, aircraft armor, cockpit armor, land-based armor system,” Mertz explained. “In nuclear energy, it is the material that literally controls the nuclear fission reaction.”
For Mertz, the implications extend well beyond supply chain resiliency. "If you don't have access to that material, you don't have energy security, and it impacts your defense posture," he said. "These are real issues for the government, and USACA is helping move materials security and innovation higher on the national agenda."
‘Set Up for Success’: Mertz said one of his goals as Vice Chair is to identify new and more effective ways to educate policymakers on the importance of advanced ceramics, while ensuring decision-makers understand the innovations taking place across the industry, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses. “These companies are not really set up for success in the United States,” he said.
According to Mertz, addressing these challenges is critical to maintaining America's technological advantage in materials science as global competitors increase investments in next-generation advanced ceramics and other advanced materials.
He pointed to China's substantial investments in nanotechnology as one example. “The Chinese government built a 750,000 square foot facility that is dedicated to nanotechnology,” Mertz noted. “There are tens of thousands of people working in that industrial park and hundreds of companies. All of them are heavily subsidized by local, provincial, and national governments, and they're getting all kinds of advantages.”
Growth Strategy: Beyond policy and supply chain priorities, Mertz also hopes to help strengthen and expand USACA in the years ahead. He sees continued membership growth and increased engagement across industry, academia, and government as essential to ensuring the association remains an effective advocate for the advanced ceramics community and a trusted resource for policymakers.
"One way an advocacy organization can flex its muscle is to expand the tent," Mertz said. "It does seem to me that USACA could organically grow and do quite well. It's a very credible organization, and there is a strong ceramics community in the United States. I think more of those companies could contribute."
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