ACerS President's Council of Student Advisors (PCSA) is the student-led committee of ACerS responsible for representing student interests to ACerS and its subsidiary committees, divisions, sections, and classes. The PCSA is the primary face of ACerS to ceramics and materials science students. The role of the PCSA delegate is to represent their collegiate institution to PCSA, as well as representing the PCSA and ACerS to their academic department.
PCSA Mission
The mission of PCSA is to engage students as active and long-term leaders in the ceramics community and to increase participation in ACerS at the local, national, and international levels.
PCSA Goals
- To coordinate student-focused ceramic programming at technical meetings.
- To develop and implement ceramics-focused outreach activities.
- To facilitate industry-student relations.
- To promote ceramic science and engineering at the university and local levels.
- To provide a way for students and young professionals to become and remain
actively engaged as leaders in the ceramic materials community.
ACerS PCSA Day in the Life (DITL) video compilation
Delegates from the ACerS President’s Council of Student Advisors (PCSA) worked to put together Day in the Life (DITL) videos to give some insight into the life of students in higher education. The video shown above is a compilation of the 10+ DITL videos created by the PCSA. To view the individual videos, go to www.instagram.com/acerspcsa and check out their stories.
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Become a part of PCSA
The 2024-25 PCSA application period is now open.
Deadline to apply (extended): April 5, 2024.
Connect with ACerS PCSA on social media
PCSA Committees
The PCSA also has five committees which are shown below.
Organize official PCSA sponsored conference programs and competitions
Coordinate advertisement and social media managing for the PCSA
Inspire and assist young researchers to become part of the PCSA
Facilitate STEM outreach for the next generation of materials scientists and engineers, with a focus on ceramics
Professional development and community engagement group within the PCSA
2023-24 PCSA Officers
PCSA Chair
Michael Thuis, Northwestern University
Conference Programming and Competitions Committee Chair
Kavan Joshi, Lehigh University
Communications Committee Chair
Brittney Hauke, Penn State University
Recruitment and retention Committee Chair
Ruth Adam, University of Cologne
PCSA VICE Chair
John Bussey, Washington State University
education Committee Chair
Hugh Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
professional development Committee Chair
Pattiya Pibulchinda, Northwestern University
PCSA Mentor-at-large
Victoria Blair, US Army Research Laboratory
Scott McCormack, University of California, Davis
Meet the 2023-24 PCSA
The 2023-24 class of PCSA delegates consists of 38 students from 19 universities, representing 5 countries.
Left: The 2023-2024 class of delegates with past ACerS President Sanjay Mathur (center, left) and current ACerS President Raj Bordia (center, right) at the PCSA Annual Business Meeting.
2023-2024 PCSA delegates represent the following universities:
Clemson University
Colorado School of Mines
Indiana University
Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo (Mexico)
Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia (Mexico)
Lehigh University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Oklahoma State University
Purdue University
Texas A&M University
The Ohio State University
The Pennsylvania State University
University of Birmingham (United Kingdom)
University of California, Davis
University of Cologne (Germany)
University of Rennes 1 (France)
University of Virginia
Washington State University