Q&A: What is glass and how is it shaping our world?
From fiber optic cables to smartphones, glass is playing a major role in emerging technology. To learn more about how glass will shape future society, we spoke with Katelyn Kirchner, a doctoral candidate at Penn State, who is studying with John Mauro, Penn State’s Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Kirchner is lead author and Mauro corresponding author on a recent review article on the unique properties of glass published in the journal Chemical Reviews.
The article, which was published in print last month and co-authored with an international team of scientists, is the first comprehensive look at the spatial and temporal fluctuations of glass. It is a review of experimental, computational, and theoretical approaches to characterize and demonstrate the effects of various types of fluctuations on physical properties and processes, focusing primarily on commercially relevant oxide glasses.