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Dr. Joseph Biernacki - A Profile in Excellence

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Dr. Joseph J. Biernacki - A Profile In Excellence

ACerS congratulates Dr. Joseph J. Biernacki, a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University (TTU), for his excellence in ceramic science and engineering.   Dr. Biernackni has been an ACerS member since 1993.  Biernacki has received numerous awards for his research and educational initiatives and in 2003 he was named TTU’s Outstanding Faculty in Professional Service.

Educational Background:
BS, Chemical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University (1980)
DRE (Doctor of Engineering), Chemical Engineering, Cleveland State University (1988)

ACerS Member Since: 1993

ACerS Involvement & Honors:
Dr. Biernacki’s primary ACerS Division is Cements, wherein he has been an active member for going on ten years.  Biernacki has served the Cements Division as Chair-elect and Chair (2004 and 2005) and is a two time organizer of the Cements Division’s Annual Program (1999 and 2007).  Biernacki has received numerous awards for his research and educational initiatives including the 2006 ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Corcoran and Thomas C. Evans Awards and is a seven time National Science Foundation (NSF) grant award recipient.  Biernacki was also named TTU’s 2003 Outstanding Faculty in Professional Service wherein his nomination cited his dedication to ACerS service.

Current Focus of Work:
Dr. Biernacki’s present research interests include the application of phase resolved multi-scale techniques such as x-ray and neutron diffraction to study the development of chemical and physical changes in hydrating portland cement.

Employment:
Dr. Biernacki joined Tennessee Technological University in 1997 as Associate Professor and was promoted to Full Professor in 2002.  Prior to that, he spent two years as Director of Educational Programs for the National Science Foundation Center for Science and Technology of Advanced Cement Based Materials (ACBM).  During his brief stay at ACBM he became interested in cement research, and since has continued his work primarily in that field.  Biernacki began his professional career in 1980 when he joined Standard Oil of Ohio (SOHIO), later becoming British Petroleum (BP), which at one point owned the Carborundum Company where he would spend six years (1989-1995) working on ceramic materials processing.

Bio/Accomplishments in Ceramic Science and Engineering:
Though Biernacki claims Cements as his primary field of research interest, he has an extensive background in ceramic materials development, having spent a significant portion of his industrial career working for the then Carborundum Company in Niagara Falls, NY.  Among the varied achievements in his ceramics materials career is the development of a process for production of continuous sintered alpha silicon carbide fiber (Proceeding, Cocoa Beach, ACerS 1997). 

Biernacki was also involved in some of the early work to characterize reaction path mechanisms in the growth of silicon carbide whiskers (J. ACerS, 1989).  His more recent work focuses on phase resolved characterization of reactions (J. ACerS, 2002) and mechanical property development in hydrating portland cement on which he has published what is possibly the first application of x-ray diffraction to characterize mechanically induced strains in hydrated portland cement using a native phase, e.g. calcium hydroxide (J. ACerS, 2006).

Personal Background:
Dr. Biernacki lives in Cookeville, TN, home of Tennessee Technological University, with his wife, Susan.  They have three college-age children, Audra, Erin and Christopher.  Biernacki says his favorite pastime is playing and discussing guitar music with his son.  An interesting note about Biernacki is that he earned his Doctor of Engineering degree (DRE) at Cleveland State University while working full time as an R&D engineer at BP labs, then located in suburban Cleveland and says, “this experience binds me forever to my home town, Cleveland.”

About Involvement in ACerS:
Dr. Biernacki considers ACerS as his primary professional society home and the Journal of the American Ceramic Society as his preferred outlet for his research findings.  “I am proud to be an ACerS member and always glad to serve in any way that I can.”  Biernacki also says that, “the Journal is an exceptional forum that is dedicated to excellence,” and that, “the ACerS Annual Meeting has been a consistent venue for North America’s primary scientific meeting on cements related basic research.”