UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Clive Randall, Evan Pugh University Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State, has been named an inaugural recipient of the Inamori-KYOCERA Award, an international honor recognizing individuals whose scholarship, invention, technological innovation and international collaboration have substantially advanced the ceramics industry.
Randall recently received the award at the recent International Congress on Ceramics meeting in Sapporo, Japan, that took place Sept. 6-10.
The Inamori-KYOCERA Award is endowed by KYOCERA Corporation and named in honor of its founder, Kazuo Inamori, whose work as an engineer and entrepreneur helped establish advanced ceramics as an enabling technology for modern society. The award is administered by the International Ceramic Federation and was initiated by the Japan Fine Ceramics Association.
Established this year, the biennial award recognizes contributions from academia, industry, government and research institutions. International impact and collaboration are central criteria, along with advances in ceramic materials, processing, applications, environmental sustainability and industrial leadership. A broader purpose of the award is to increase awareness of the role ceramics play in technologies and everyday life worldwide.
Randall joined Penn State in 1987, and his research has combined fundamental materials science with the development and translation of ceramic technologies. His work has focused on functional ceramics, dielectric and ferroelectric materials, capacitors and energy-storage technologies, and new approaches to ceramic processing.
He also developed cold sintering, a low-temperature processing technology that can substantially reduce the temperatures required to manufacture many ceramic materials and enable new combinations of ceramics with polymers, metals and other materials.
In addition, Randall has maintained extensive collaborations with the international electronic ceramics industry. Through Penn State’s industry-university research programs, he has helped connect fundamental ceramic science with industrial challenges in materials processing, reliability and emerging electronic technologies.
Randall served for 12 years as director of Penn State’s Materials Research Institute and previously directed the Center for Dielectric Studies and co-directed the Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics. He has published more than 600 scientific papers and holds 30 patents. He is a member of the World Academy of Ceramics and European Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. In 2024, he was named an Evan Pugh University Professor, Penn State’s highest faculty distinction.
“It is particularly meaningful to receive an award bearing Dr. Inamori’s name because his career demonstrated how fundamental materials science, manufacturing innovation and entrepreneurship can come together to create technologies that influence society worldwide,” Randall said. “I also view this award as recognition of the students, colleagues and industrial collaborators from around the world who have contributed to our work at Penn State.”