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Dr. Paul F. Becher

Paul F. Becher is a Corporate Fellow in the Materials Science and Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN.

He began his career in ceramics research under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Leipold at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1965-66 before entering graduate school at North Carolina State University to study with Prof. Hayne Palmour III (1966-70).  Upon completing a Ph.D., he moved to the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory working with R. W. Rice (1970-80) and later joined the staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he continues his research on mechanisms controlling microstructure evolution, interfaces and properties of ceramic systems across multiple length scales.

Dr. Becher holds a Ph.D. in Ceramics from North Carolina State University and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.  He holds adjunct professor positions at the University of Tennessee and North Carolina State University.

He is a past president of The American Ceramic Society (1999-2000), a past Chair of the Basic Science Division, a member of the Engineering Ceramics Division, a Fellow (1979) and an associate editor of the Journal.  In 1988, he received the Purdy Publication Award and was the Sosman Memorial Lecturer and was the 2006 Orton Memorial Lecturer.  He received an Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation Research Award for Senior Scientists (1991) and was a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Materials Research.  He is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science (2003), a World Academy of Ceramics Academician (2004) and the 1987 ORNL Inventor of the Year.