Welcome to the November Issue of Advanced Ceramics Insights | | |
As USACA advances its agenda, we are enlisting more members to help tackle one of our biggest collective challenges: developing and nurturing the advanced ceramics workforce of today and tomorrow.
That means a more active and expansive Workforce Development Working Group, which “aims to strengthen communication and collaboration among industry, academia, and government to recruit, train, and sustain the advanced ceramics workforce essential for national and economic security,” according to Dr. Aisha Haynes, USACA’s new Technical Director.
‘Real world industry needs’: The working group is laser-focused on developing an updated Workforce Development Strategy to align with USACA’s current initiatives and strategies, as well as future funding requests. There is also a plan in the works to begin more aggressive engagement on Capitol Hill in the spring.
To achieve its goals, we are expanding industry participation. The goal, Haynes says, is “to help shape strategy and ensure that academic and government programs align with real-world industry needs.”
In the next year, USACA will spearhead public and private initiatives to grow the pipeline of skilled ceramic technologists, meeting current workforce demands and ensuring U.S. global leadership in advanced ceramics technologies for years to come.
We want you: USACA is also looking for an industry co-chair for the working group to oversee efforts alongside academic co-chair Dr. Dave Lipke, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Missouri S&T. To get involved in a leadership role or to attend working group meetings, please contact LB Fullerton at lb@strategicmi.com.
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‘THE BLEEDING EDGE’: When Weber State University in Utah joined USACA earlier this year, it brought into our growing coalition one of the most exciting R&D incubators in the industry with the Miller Advanced Research & Solutions Center.
The center was founded in 2023 to work with government agencies and the advanced materials industry to address the “production deficiency in high-temperature materials deployment,” according to Dr. Benjamin Garcia, who left Northrop Grumman in 2023 to lead the effort.
“The idea was to define missions and define the types of equipment to bring into the center to really advance the state of the art of carbon/carbon and other ultra-high temperature materials and composites for our national defense,” Garcia told us. “We support those types of systems by demonstrating and producing advanced materials to help accelerate their development and adoption.”
The center is scheduled to be fully operational in March 2026. But it already offers unique capabilities for students, government and industry partners of all sizes, and other universities to test and prototype new, nearly full-scale advanced composites, materials, and structures.
Much of the focus of its work, which is all unclassified, is on advanced manufacturing and advanced ceramics processing for what Garcia called “the bleeding edge” of air and space vehicles. That includes the high-performance materials needed to shield rocket motors or to encase ever-faster hypersonic missiles and propel and protect next-generation space transportation systems.
‘Lower cost and high-volume’: The center can carry out a series of non-destructive evaluations of materials, including using large scale robotic X-ray CT and laser UT capable of scanning at least eight feet in any direction. “Our laser ultrasound testing unit may be the largest unit in the United States at a university," Garcia said.
The lab also utilizes a large graphitization furnace that reaches 2,500°C for carbon/carbon and ceramic matrix composite fabrication. The furnace dimensions are 31 inches in diameter and 47 inches tall, also making it one of the largest available at a university facility.
“We try to maintain systems very similar to what you see on a production floor in the aerospace industry,” Garcia said. The objective, he added, is for these “high fidelity prototypes” to help speed up development timelines of new materials and manufacturing processes so that they can be produced at “lower cost and high-volume.”
“We are seeking to mature and demonstrate those technologies to make it easier for partners to bring them into their own factories,” he added.
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‘Direct links to industry and government needs’: Another major mission of the center, according to Garcia, is to advance workforce development, and Weber State is heavily involved in helping to feed the region’s aerospace and defense needs. For example, the center offers internships with every university in Utah, including Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and Utah State University.
“But we are also trying to be another national resource, like Alfred University, Missouri S&T, and the Colorado School of Mines, for advanced ceramics engineering, particularly in advanced composites,” he added.
The center is also designed to be “self-sustaining, with project funding from government and industry,” he explained. “We've been pretty successful at doing that. All the projects we get have direct links to industry and government needs.”
Garcia, who is active with USACA’s Workforce Development Working Group, has been attending association meetings for several years.
‘Looking to USACA’: “I see USACA building out capability and becoming more active in the community,” he said. “These types of materials are becoming more important for defense, energy, and more. We are looking to USACA to help set policy in a host of areas, from workforce to nuclear power systems to hypersonics and space propulsion – and helping seek funding support for members to help in that mission.”
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‘TREMEDOUS NEED’: USACA was honored to once again partner with the American Ceramics Society to host the recent short course on hypersonics with Dr. Rod Trice, a professor at Purdue University’s School of Materials Engineering.
The program, funded by the Department of War, drew two dozen participants and was the first of 18 workshops scheduled to be held over the next two years.
The course covered the history of hypersonic flight, cutting-edge developments in thermal protection systems, hypersonic materials, and the mechanical properties of ceramics, ceramic matrix composites, and materials for radiofrequency and infrared performance.
"Launching this two-year series with such positive feedback confirms the tremendous need for accessible hypersonic materials education," said Amanda Engen, director of communications and workforce development at ACerS. "Over the next 18 workshops, we'll equip hundreds of professionals with the comprehensive understanding of thermal protection systems, ceramic matrix composites, and ultra-high temperature materials that are essential for advancing this critical technology sector."
Makeup session: For those who missed it, Professor Trice will teach the hypersonics course virtually on January 6 and 7, 2026. Participants can register for one or both days at https://ceramics.org/course/virtual-hypersonic-workshop-2026/.
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BREAKTHROUGH: The federal government is back up and running after the longest shutdown in history, though it will take time to dig out and get stalled projects back on track. And Congress will need to come together right after the holidays to avoid grinding to a halt again.
Republicans and enough Democrats reached a deal to reopen the government after 43 days, paving the way to fund some government programs for the new fiscal year and the rest on a temporary basis through January 2026.
The “minibus” appropriations package funds the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and military construction projects, as well as the operations of Congress for the current fiscal year, while the rest of the federal agencies will be funded through January.
Read more on what was in the deal passed by both chambers and signed by President Donald Trump – and what wasn’t.
Plus: After the Shutdown: What Comes Next for the Pentagon’s FY26 Budget?
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‘ACCELERATING CAPABILITY’: If you have defense contracts or support companies that do, real change is afoot in how the Pentagon acquires new technologies and weapon systems.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a new set of directives that he said are intended to “aggressively prioritize the timely and urgent delivery of operational capabilities to the Warfighter.”
What’s in a name? He formally renamed the Defense Acquisition System the Warfighter Acquisition System (WAS), but the changes he set in motion are far more than cosmetic.
The core principles, as Hegseth laid them out in a memo, are to “instill the warrior ethos in the acquisition workforce and enterprise, inject a sense of urgency and relentless focus on speed by empowering those directly responsible for delivery to make and own decisions, cut through unnecessary layers to focus the WAS on speed, accountability, and mission outcomes, and prioritize flexible requirements and resource trades to enable timely delivery at the speed of relevance.”
He added: “Every process, board, and review must justify its existence by demonstrating how it directly supports accelerating capability delivery to meet Warfighter needs.”
‘Especially promising’: The changes could have a big impact on shaping USACA’s agenda.
“For decades, improving the acquisition system has been a bipartisan aspiration,” said USACA Executive Director Ken Wetzel. “It’s encouraging to see the Department of War take decisive steps to clear barriers that have limited our nation’s warfighters’ access to game-changing equipment.”
“The focus on speed and industrial base revitalization,” he added, “is especially promising for the advanced ceramics industry, where materials are poised to play a pivotal role in enabling next-generation DoW capabilities.”
Many of the actions appear to align with growing support for more radical changes in Congress, particularly supporters of the proposed FORGED Act.
“These reforms will be a game changer for U.S. defense, ensuring our military has the advanced equipment needed to deter adversaries like China and Russia,” Sen. Robert Wicker, chair of the Armed Services Committee and the bill’s main sponsor, said of Hegseth’s reforms. “We look forward to implementing these priorities in the next National Defense Authorization Act.”
Read the Hegseth plan: Transforming the Defense Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System to Accelerate Fielding of Urgently Needed Capabilities to Our Warriors
Related: Pentagon keen to recruit fresh acquisition workforce talent as it jumpstarts procurement reforms
Plus: The Army is changing its acquisition structure. Here are the details.
Go deeper: Acquisition Transformation: How to Make it Last
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GOING MACRO: USACA is tracking a series of funding opportunities that fall squarely in our membership’s expertise and capacities, including in the area of microelectronics.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology at the Department of Commerce recently published a Broad Agency Announcement seeking “research, prototyping, and commercial solutions that advance microelectronics technology.”
Proposals should prioritize ways to “accelerate the pace of commercialization” in advanced microelectronics research and development by leveraging new technologies and production processes such as AI, quantum computing, biotechnology, and manufacturing.
The agency is calling for white papers that do not exceed five pages. Awards will be a minimum of $10 million. Advises Haynes, USACA’s Technical Director: “Proposals should be big ideas.”
USACA’s Microelectronics Working Group is developing a charter and beginning work on a technical roadmap with the expectation of seeking funding for the next fiscal year.
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EXTREME CONDITIONING: A report produced by Stony Brook University on new research on nuclear ceramics caught our eye.
Nuclear technologies require structural materials that can withstand temperatures of 1000°C or more, as well as radiation damage.
“To resist such extreme conditions, Stony Brook researchers are developing metal and ceramic-based structural materials that are both thermally and irradiation-stable,” explains the article in Nature. “Advanced tungsten alloys and ultra-high-temperature ceramics are materials being processed and evaluated, with routes to radiation stability including interface engineering and compositing. These high-temperature materials are being engineered so that radiation-created defects will not cause severe swelling or make materials brittle.”
Read the full report: The new materials laying the foundations for nuclear energy’s next generation
Plus: Scientists make incredible breakthroughs in pursuit of new-age nuclear power: 'People are going to get their Nobel Prize'
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Here’s a quick rundown on some upcoming and rescheduled events of interest to USACA members:
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The annual Defense Manufacturing Conference (DMC), scheduled to begin this week in Orlando, was a casualty of the recent government shutdown. But it has been rescheduled for March 30 to April 2, 2026.
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It’s full speed ahead for the annual Composites, Materials and Structures (CMS) Conference, which will be held in New Orleans January 25-29, 2026.
- Finally, it's not too early to start planning for USACA’s Spring Technical Meeting, which will be held in Washington, D.C. on March 10 and 11, 2026. Stay tuned for more details, including plans for a high-temperature materials workshop with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to kick off the gathering on March 9 at no cost for USACA members.
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