Prof. ZHANG Jie from the Advanced Ceramics and Composites Division of Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science (SYNL) won the Jubilee Global Diversity Award from the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). She has been invited to deliver a plenary speech entitled “Integrated design of ceramic coatings for accident-tolerant fuel cladding in LWRs” at International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC) in January, 2019.

Prof. Zhang's research focuses on advanced ceramic coatings and materials under extreme conditions (including irradiation, high temperature, steam oxidation etc.). She has been internationally recognized for her contribution to innovative technology in the integrated design and development ceramic coating of accident-tolerant fuel in Light Water Reactors. As an ACerS member, she actively participates in ECD activities including as the session chair, symposium organizer and poster judge on ICACC conference, mentoring the ACerS GGRN members.

Every year, three early/mid-career women and minority professionals are selected for the Engineering Ceramics Division's Jubilee Global Diversity Award and are invited to present at ICACC in Daytona Beach, FL (annual meeting of the Division). The awardees are encouraged to mentor students and promote society related activities at their institutions. This award is intended to recognize exceptional early- to mid-career professionals who are women and/or underrepresented minorities (i.e. based on race, ethnicity, nationality and/or geographic location) in the area of ceramic science and engineering.