Welcome to the Summer Issue of Advanced Ceramics Insights

USACA is thrilled to announce that Aisha Haynes, PhD, who has had a stellar career managing the Department of Defense’s advanced materials portfolio, has come aboard as our new technical director. 

Dr. Haynes brings more than 20 years of experience in crafting science and technology strategy, as well as developing and transitioning emerging technologies to the field – most recently as Principal Director for Advanced Materials in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. 

She holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. 

“We are thrilled to have someone with Aisha’s expertise and exceptional leadership skills in this critical role,” said USACA Executive Director Ken Wetzel. “She will play a leading role in sharpening and accelerating the efforts of our working groups and helping us shepherd our industry's policy and investment priorities."

We asked Dr. Haynes to briefly sketch out her plans for USACA:

USACA: What’s your vision for taking USACA to the next level?

AH: USACA represents the collective of the industry. It has greater capacity than members might appreciate to shape where the government makes investments. If the industry partners are saying, “Hey, this is the next generation semiconductor material or packaging technology for microelectronics,” the government is more likely to adapt. It’s a lower risk. The government is eager to leverage those investments to meet some of its technical gaps. 

USACA: How does that relate to government-controlled IP? 

AH: The government creates IP in the hopes that industry can scale it, mass produce it and commercialize it so it can be integrated into a fielded system. The industry needs more visibility into what those government investments entail. 



USACA can align better, so we know what the government IP looks like and leverage that repository of information and figure out what can be pulled from it and get it into the field.

I will be working with USACA to elevate their visibility and position them as a national voice for the ceramics community ensuring that the government is listening to what we are saying.

EVENTS 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Dr. Haynes will be among the featured presenters at USACA’s upcoming Fall Technical Meeting, to be held September 24 and 25, 2025, in Golden, Colorado.

Another presenter will be Dr. Randall Hay, who recently retired as Principal Materials Research Engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). 

We got a sneak peek of the lessons he learned. One is the need to rethink how the nation collectively invests in advanced ceramic fibers, particularly oxide fibers. 

“There's nothing new that's been commercialized since the early 1990s,” he said. “DARPA funded it in the late 1980s. They are used in all sorts of structural applications, such as afterburners, combustors, and exhaust wash structures for missiles and aircraft. Perhaps the most technically important use right now is radomes.”

‘Change the structure’: Developing the next generation of oxide fibers, however, is stymied by the combination of a lack of private sector investment and government demand signal, he said.

“In the last 20 or 30 years, companies have become very risk-averse,” Hay said. “They don't want to take the next step and invest $10 million or $20 million in a pilot plant because they are afraid they won't get their money back.”

“We need to change the structure in which these things are funded,” he continued.” What you must do is guarantee a market for these fibers. The Department of Defense has to say, ‘You build a fiber with these specs, we will buy so many pounds per year, at such and such a price for so many years,’ and then someone can make the rational decision to invest.”

He cited as an example the recent Pentagon decision – followed by additional private investment – to spur the development of a more robust domestic rare earth minerals market.

“We are kind of missing the boat,” Hay said. “We like to compare ourselves to China. It's not that we don't have the basic research going on. They've got it, too. But they've got people who are willing to invest in things like that. And we don't.”

See you soon: If you haven’t registered for the Fall Technical Meeting, please email LB Fullerton at lb@strategicmi.com and Karen Coleman-Dillon at karen@strategicmi.com.

And special thanks to our event sponsors CoorsTek, Canopy Aerospace, and Colorado School of Mines.

‘THE BGGEST DECISIONS’: We also want to flag an annual symposium that the School of Mines is hosting on critical minerals on September 11 and 12.

The value proposition: “Understanding of these critical minerals and their often-complex supply chains is key to making the biggest decisions of the ongoing energy demand revolution,” says the schools Payne Institute for Public Policy Institute.

Learn more: Critical Minerals Symposium 

USACA UPDATE 

WE WANT YOU: USACA is looking to appoint a new co-chair for our Workforce Development Working Group, which is advancing strategies to build a strong, sustainable talent pipeline for the advanced ceramics industry. 

The working group is supporting the Advanced Ceramics for Defense Consortium (ACDC), a public-private partnership to help alleviate labor shortages – particularly to address national security needs.

The consortium is proposing several workforce initiatives and seeking government support for three regional nodes – in the Mountain West, Midwest, and Northeast – equipped with specialized training facilities that can support hands-on coursework and defense industry traineeships. 

Reach out: We encourage members who are interested in workforce issues and committed to shaping the future of the field to consider stepping into this leadership role.

If you would like to be considered, please submit a short biography highlighting your background and relevant experience to Ken@strategicmi.com and LB@strategicmi.com.

INDUSTRY UPDATE 

‘CUTTING-EDGE MATERIALS’: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is seeking input “from all interested parties” to help craft a National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing.

The request for information is looking for novel ideas that “make use of cutting-edge materials and emerging capabilities enabled by the physical and biological sciences, such as nanotechnology, chemistry, and biology,” it states. That means “both new ways to manufacture existing products and the manufacture of new products emerging from new advanced technologies.”

Deadline: Responses are due by September 30, 2025.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: We’re also closely tracking the implications for USACA members and working groups from the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar push for a Golden Dome for America missile shield. 

The Missile Defense Agency issued a draft request for proposals on July 25 to kick off a multi-contract competition worth up to $151 billion over the next decade. 

‘Rapid delivery’: “This contract will provide rapid delivery of innovative capabilities to the warfighter with increased speed and agility, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled applications where pertinent, and maximizing use of digital engineering, open systems architectures, model-based systems engineering, and agile processes in the acquisition, development, fielding, and sustainment of these capabilities,” the solicitation states.

It followed a request for information from the Space Force seeking market research “to identify Space Based Interceptor (SBI) capabilities to address the threat of attack by ballistic and hypersonic missiles.”

The purpose, it adds, is “to identify existing space-based missile defense capabilities and strategize on an architecture of a proliferated SBI constellation capable of boost-phase, mid-course-phase, and glide-phase intercepts.”

Industry day: Meanwhile, the Missile Defense Agency is holding an unclassified industry day for the project in Huntsville, Alabama, on August 7.

Related: Space Force’s Guetlein Confirmed as Golden Dome Czar 

Have news to share with the USACA membership? We want to hear from you! Email Bryan Bender at bender@strategicmi.com or LB Fullerton at LB@strategicmi.com. And follow USACA on LinkedIn. 

Please Contact Us With Any Questions:

Ken Wetzel, ken@strategicmi.com

Alex Charow, alex@strategicmi.com

LB Fullerton, lb@strategicmi.com