Advances in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells IV, A Collection of Papers Presented at the 32nd International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and composites January 27-February 1, 2008 Daytona Beach, Florida

Dr. Narottam P. Bansal is a Senior Research Scientist in the Ceramic Branch, Materials and Structures Division, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH. He received his Ph. D. in 1973. He held post-doctoral research appointments at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Troy, NY. He has carried out research in a number of areas such as: solid oxide fuel cells, fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites for high-temperature structural applications in turbine engines, fiber-matrix interface, thermal and environmental barrier coatings, high-temperature superonductors, sol-gel Processing, refractory glass-ceramics, crystallization kinetics, phase transformations, IR-transmitting materials, electroanalytical techniques, ionic diffusion in melts. Dr. Bansal is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. He is recipient of NASA's Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievements (1998), R & D 100 Award (2001) and Hind Rattan Award (1993) from NRI Society of India. He has also received numerous Innovative Technology Development Awards and Tech Brief Awards from NASA. He has been listed in more than 30 different Who's Who in the U.S. and abroad. So far, he has been organizer and Program Chair of 31 International Symposia and editor of 23 Conference proceeding volumes. He is author/co-author of 4 books, 6 invited book chapters, 3 review articles, 8 NASA Tech Briefs, and 215 research papers including 92 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has been awarded seven U.S. Patents, so far. Dr. Bansal has also served on the international advisory boards of a number of international conferences. He was a member of the Technical Committee 18 of International Commission on Glass and Chair of its subcommittee on Diffusion in Glass Forming Melts. He is a member of the Technical Committee V.8.1 of International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). He is an active member of the American Ceramic Society since 1982. As a member of the Engineering Ceramics Division, Dr. Bansal has served as chair of the Awards and Scholarship Committee. He is a past chair of the Northern Ohio section of the American Ceramic Society.