The Grainger College of Engineering

Waltraud M Kriven

Waltraud M Kriven
Waltraud M Kriven
  • Donald Biggar Willett Professor
(217) 333-5258
105 Materials Science & Eng Bld

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Biography

Waltraud M. Kriven received a Ph.D in Solid State Chemistry from the University of Adelaide in South Australia. The B.Sc. (Hons) and Baccalaureate degrees were in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, and Biochemistry, also in Adelaide. Dr. Kriven spent one year as a Post Doctoral Teaching and Research Fellow in the Chemistry Dept. at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She then spent three years jointly at the University of California at Berkeley, and at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. There, Dr. Kriven conducted post-doctoral research in transmission electron microscopy of ceramics and was a Lecturer, teaching Phase Equilibria in the senior undergraduate Ceramics Program of the Dept. of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering. For almost four years. Dr. Kriven was a Visiting Scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. There she studied the mechanism of transformation toughening of composite ceramics by 1 MeV HVEM, while working in the electron microscopy group headed by Dr. M. Rühle. Since then, Professor Kriven has been at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. She is a Full Professor and has held joint faculty positions in the Materials Research Laboratory (initially) and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She is also an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Professor Kriven has internationally recognized expertise in the areas of phase transformations in inorganic compounds and their applications in structural ceramic composites, geopolymers, and low temperature synthesis of oxide ceramic powders. In addition she has made extensive contributions to oxide composites design, microstructure characterization by electron microscopy techniques and phase equilibria. The Kriven group has developed an in situ, hot stage (up to 2000°C) synchrotron furnace for studies of ceramics in air. Kriven has produced 340 research publications, 59 conference proceedings, edited or co-edited 27 books and 6 patents.

Professor Kriven has been elected as a member of the European Union Academy of Sciences (2020), an Academician in the World Academy of Ceramics (2005), Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (1995) and Fellow of the Australian Ceramic Society (2009). She has won the Mueller Award (2017) from the Engineering Division of the American Ceramic Society for her research in ceramics. She was awarded the Brunauer Award twice (in 1988 and 1991) from the American Ceramic Society for co-authoring the best research papers of the year. Six US patents have been granted for her research with a further four in progress. Professor Kriven was a Past-Chair and Counselor to the Engineering Ceramics Division of the American Ceramic Society and Symposium Organizer of the Focused session on Geopolymers at the ACERS Annual Meetings, the Cocoa Beach and Daytona Beach Conferences and Expositions on Advanced Ceramics and Composites from 2003 to 2021. She has been the co-organizer on 22 international conferences on geopolymers, and was a co-organizer of 10 Int. Symposiium on Phase Transformations in Ceramics: Science and Applications held annually (2013-2023) at MS&T conferences in USA. Prof. Kriven organizes 3-4 international conferences per year on geopolymers and phase transformations in ceramics. Kriven started her company, Keanetech, LLC in 2004 which is affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Enterprise Works. It is a technology transition company specializing in ceramics and geopolymers.

Documents

Major Consulting Activities

  • US Army Corps of Engineers - Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) 2013 - present

Research Areas

  • Ceramics

Research Topics

Chapters in Books

Conferences Organized or Chaired

  • Chief organizer of the 22nd Int. Symposium on Geopolymers and Alkali Activated Materials, as part of the 48th Int. Conf. and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, held in Daytona Beach, FL, USA Jan - Feb 2025
  • Chief organizer of the 21st Int. Symposium on Geopolymers and Alkali Activated Materials, as part of the 48th Int. Conf. and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, held in Daytona Beach, FL, USA Jan 28th - Feb 2nd 2024
  • Chief organizer and co-chair of the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) International Conference on "Alkali Activated Materials and Geopolymers: Sustainable Construction Materials and Ceramics Made under Ambient Conditions." Held in Calabria, Italy May 28th to June 2nd (2023)
  • Organizer of the Int. Symposium on Geopolymers, held as part of the 47th Int. Conf. and Exposion on Advanced Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, The American Ceramic Society, held in Dyatona Beach, Fl, USA Jan 2023
  • Organizer of the Int. Symposium on Geopolymers, held as part of the 46th Int. Conf. and Exposion on Advanced Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, The American Ceramic Society, held in Dyatona Beach, Fl, USA Jan 2022
  • Organizer of the Int. Symposium on Geopolymers, held as part of the 45th Int. Conf. and Exposion on Advanced Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, The American Ceramic Society, held in Dyatona Beach, Fl, USA Jan 2021
  • Kriven has been asked to be the chief organizer for the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) conference on Geopolymers (held every 3 years), in Calabria, Italy in May 2023.
  • Kriven has agreed to organize a symposium on Geopolymers at the International Congress on Ceramics (ICC10) July 14, 2024 at 8:00 am - July 19, 2024 and 5:00 pm EDT Hotel Bonaventure, Montreal, QC H5A 1E4 Canada
  • Kriven has been called upon to organize the Symposium on Geopolymers at the International Ceramic Congress, which will next be held in Montecatini Terme, Italy, June 21-30, 2021 (Ceramics Congress 20 to 25; Forum on New Materials 26 to 30).
  • Kriven has been asked by the American Ceramic Society to help start up a series of conferences at which a geopolymer symposium will also be included. This symposium has now been scheduled. This is anticipated to be a bi-annual event. The first of these is Pan American Ceramics Congress and Ferroelectrics Meeting of Americas (PACC-FMAs 2020), in Panama City, Panama, November 15–19, 2020.
  • Kriven is organizing a symposium on Geopolymers: Low Energy and Environmentally Friendly Ceramics at the 14th Pacific Rim Conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology (PACRIM 14) including Glass & Optical Materials Division 2021 Annual Meeting (GOMD 2021). This conference is held every 3 years at a country bordering the Pacific Rim.
  • Main organizer for the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) conference on ALKALI ACTIVATED MATERIALS AND GEOPOLYMERS: SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND CERAMICS MADE UNDER AMBIENT CONDITIONS Organized by W.M. Kriven, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; C. Leonelli, Universita’ degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia; J.L. Provis, University of Sheffield; A.R. Boccaccini, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg To be held in Cetraro (Calabria), Italy May 23 – 28, 2021
  • Organizer of the Int. Symposium on Geopolymers, held as part of the 45th Int. Conf. and Exposion on Advanced Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, The American Ceramic Society, held in Dyatona Beach, Fl, USA Jan 2021
  • Organizer of the Int. Symposium on Geopolymers, held as part of the 44th Int. Conf. and Exposion on Advanced Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, The American Ceramic Society, held in Dyatona Beach, Fl, USA Jan 2020
  • Organizer of the Int. Symposium on Geopolymers, held as part of the 43rd Int. Conf. and Exposion on Advanced Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, The American Ceramic Society, held in Dyatona Beach, Fl, USA Jan 2019
  • Served as Organizer of Int. Symposium on Geopolymers at 2nd Global Forum on Advanced Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Development (GFMAT-2), held in Toronto, Canada from July 21-26, 2019.
  • Served as co-chair at the second Int. Conf. on Alkali Activated Materials and Geopolymers It is sponsored by the ECI and will be held in Torgal, Portugal in May (2018).
  • Geopolymer symposium co-organizer at the 12th Int. Conf. on Ceramic Materials and Components for Energy and Environmental Applications (CMCEE 2018). Held in Singapore, July 22nd - 27th (2018).
  • Co-Chair of the Composites at Lake Louise in Canada in 2017 as part of the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) series.
  • Co-organizer of Symposium on Ceramics for Sustainable Infrastructure: Geopolymers and Sustainable Composites," as part of Global Forum on Advanced Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Development (GFMAT 2016), Toronto, June 26th - July 1st (2016).
  • Symposium Co-organizer of 4 International Symposia on Phase Transformations in Ceramics: Science and Applications held each year since 2014 under the ACERS program, as part of the MS&T annual meetings. Will serve as co-organizer in MS&T'18. Served as the main organizer in 2014 and 2017.
  • Co-Chair or the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) Meeting on Geopolymers to be held in Hernstein, Austria, in May (2015).
  • Symposium organizer on Geopolymers at Ceramics International Conferences organized by the World Academy of Ceramics (WAC), in Italy, for four years.
  • Symposium Organizer on Geopolymers for the 11th International Conference on Ceramic Materials and Components for Energy and Environmental Applications (CMCEE-11) in Vancouver, Canada (2015).
  • Symposium Organizer on Geopolymers for the Pacific Rim (Pacrim) meetings held every 3 years. Organized last 5 symposia (12 years to date) including the next 12th Pacrim conference in 2017.
  • Organizer of Focused Session on Geopolymers as part of the ACERS ECD in Florida since 2005 (14 years). In 2017 it became an Int. Symposium on Geopolymers.
  • Served on the organizing committees of the Cocoa Beach ECD meetings for 6 years, culminating as Conference Chairman in 2005. Program Chair of the 29th International Cocoa Beach Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, Jan 2005. There were 8 international symposia and 6 focused sessions, with an attendance of over 1000 people.
  • Co-chairman of Symposium on Ceramic Matrix Composites at the Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, April 2004, 2005
  • Organized a half-day focused session on geopolymer ceramics at the Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society ACERS (2004)
  • Organized a half-day focused session on geopolymer ceramics at the Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society ACERS (2003)
  • Member of the Advisory Committee (2003-2006) for ISRS-16, the International Symposium on Reactivity of Solids, will be in Minneapolis in June 2006
  • Co-chairman of Symposium on Ceramic Matrix Composites at the Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, May (2003, 2004, 2005). Co-editor of Ceramic Transactions IX, X and XI for the American Ceramic Society organizing the Geopolymers Symposium (2003-2005)
  • Director of the Int. Glass Problems Conference at UIUC Oct. (2003, 2005). 1. Conference Chair and editor for Proc. 64th and 66th Annual Meeting on Glass Problems for the American Ceramic Society, (two volumes) (2004, 2006)
  • Organized a two-day focused session on oxide ceramics at the Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society ACERS (2002)
  • Session Organizer for the Engineering Ceramics Division of the American Ceramics Society, for the International Annual Meeting on Advanced Ceramic Composites for the January 2001 Meeting (2-day meeting)
  • Member, International Advisory Committee for Int. Conf. On Processing of Fibers and Composites held in May 2000 in Tuscany, Italy

Recent Courses Taught

  • MSE 420 - Ceramic Materials & Properties
  • MSE 421 - Ceramic Processing

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