21 Facts About Katherine Faber

Katherine Theresa Faber is an American materials scientist and one of the world's foremost experts in ceramic engineering, material strengthening, and ultra-high temperature materials.

Katherine Faber was previously the Walter P Murphy Professor and department chair of Materials Science and Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.

Katherine Faber is known for her work in the fracture mechanics of brittle materials and energy-related ceramics and composites, including the Katherine Faber-Evans model of crack deflection which is named after her.

Katherine Faber's research encompasses a broad range of topics, from ceramics for thermal and environmental barrier coatings in power generation components to porous solids for filters and flow in medical applications.

Katherine Faber is the co-founder and previous co-director of the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts and oversees a number of collaborative endeavors, especially with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Katherine Faber was the youngest daughter of an aspiring aeronautical engineer whose education was halted by the Great Depression.

An initial interest in chemistry evolved to an appreciation for ceramic engineering after Katherine Faber recognized its potential in solving many engineering problems.

Katherine Faber eventually obtained her Bachelor of Science in Ceramic Engineering at the New York State College of Ceramics within Alfred University.

Katherine Faber completed her Master of Science in Ceramic Science at Penn State University where she studied phase separation in glasses with Professor Guy Rindone.

From 1982 to 1987, Katherine Faber served as Assistant and Associate Professor of Ceramic Engineering at the Ohio State University.

Katherine Faber participated in the first class of the Defense Science Study Group, a program which introduces outstanding American science and engineering professors to the United States' security challenges.

Katherine Faber went on to complete a 5-year term as department chair of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern, where she served as the Chair of the University Materials Council, a collaborative group composed of directors of a number of materials programs from across the US and Canada.

From 2006 to 2007, Katherine Faber served as the President of the American Ceramic Society, and in 2013 was named a Distinguished Life Member in recognition of her notable contributions to the ceramic and glass profession.

In 2014, Katherine Faber was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences class of fellows.

In 2024, Faber received the W David Kingery Award, one of the highest honors bestowed in the ceramics community, for her lifelong contributions to ceramic technology and education.

Katherine Faber's research encompasses a diverse range of material science topics, focusing on fracture mechanics, shape memory materials, environmental barrier coatings, additive manufacturing, boron nitride composites, and historical ceramics.

Katherine Faber explores the durability of environmental barrier coatings in high-temperature applications, such as gas turbine engines.

Katherine Faber's research delves into the damage modes, including oxidation of the bond coat layer and the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients, which lead to cracking and spalling.

Katherine Faber employs advanced techniques like high-intensity X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source to measure internal strains, stresses, and damage evolution in EBC systems, aiming to understand the mechanisms and rates of oxidation failure and enhance the lifetime of these coatings.

Katherine Faber showed that by using imaging techniques, the actual crack tortuosity can be determined, enabling the direct input of deflection and bowing angles into the model.

Katherine Faber's analysis revealed that fracture toughness, regardless of morphology, is primarily determined by the most severe twisting of the crack front rather than its initial inclination.