Cameran Beg, University of Michigan
Building on more than 170 years of expertise, Corning continues to explore the potential and future of glass science. The company helps build that future through collaborations with glass scientists and students at academic institutions all around the world.
Each year, Corning invites graduate students to apply for its Glass Age Scholarship – involving financial support and a year-long collaboration with one or more scientists from Corning, who mentor the student as he/she conducts their graduate research with their own academic advisor.
“The Glass Age Scholarship is a means for enhanced visibility into the research programs at key universities, a mechanism for the identification of creative talent, and, thus, a tool to support our recruiting efforts for new hires,” said Jeff Kohli, director, Glass Research, Corning Incorporated. “It’s a message to academia that we value their programs and the students that they nurture and prepare for graduation.”
The 2022/2023 Glass Age Scholar recipient is Cameran Beg, a doctorate student in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan.
Cameran’s thesis research pertains to the atomic-scale simulation and theoretical model development of transport properties in glasses and glass-forming liquids. Cameran applied for the Glass Age Scholarship as an opportunity to work with Corning’s glass scientists on refining and developing the company’s viscosity model for glass-forming liquids. “The chance to be immersed in glass research with scientists and engineers at one of the world’s leading glass companies is invaluable,” Cameran said.
Cameran is interested in glass because of its peculiarity as a material. “Humans have been making use of glassy materials for thousands of years and yet there is still so little known about the structure property relationships of glasses,” Cameran said. “The material is disordered and subtle structural changes that can be difficult to identify often result in significantly different material properties.”
In addition to his work at Corning’s research facility, he was also able to learn more about glass as a material based on offerings in the Detroit, M.I. area. “I participated in a few glass blowing and glass sculpting classes, which has been a fun way to interact with the material in a different context,” Cameran said.
Jeff Kohli and his teams have trained and advised several graduate students and postdocs who subsequently devoted their professional careers to glass science.
“What all these graduate students have in common is a high-level of curiosity and a keen interest in the mysteries and potential applications of amorphous materials,” Jeff said. “It’s inspiring to meet and support these individuals and to help them identify a meaningful career path.”
Cameran was mentored by Douglas Allan, research fellow, physics, Glass Research. “At Corning we have a longstanding interest in fundamental aspects of glass viscosity and in models for its temperature dependence. Cameran brought us yet another model coming from an entirely different point of view,” Douglas said. “This was great because it offered an opportunity to criticize aspects of a widely used model for measuring viscosity data, and to dig more deeply into the physics underlying viscosity.”
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About the Glass Age Scholarship
The Glass Age Scholarship is awarded to one student annually at the collegiate level, providing an opportunity to work closely with Corning scientists on a research project to help guide academic glass science research.
Students are required to propose a research project important for enabling future advances in glass science and technology – as cited by an article authored by Corning scientists on the need to continue glass science education and academic research.
The goal of the scholarship is to encourage students studying glass science to begin to conduct work in the areas most important to the technical glass industry. By doing so, students will gain a solid foundation to prepare for a future career in industrial glass research, product or/process development, or manufacturing.
