Bill Weber, Ph.D.
Laboratory Fellow, Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, Chemical and Material Sciences Division, Material SciencesCurrent Activities and Projects
Dr. Weber joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 1977 as a research scientist and was promoted to Laboratory Fellow in 1997. He is an internationally recognized leader and expert on radiation effects, ion-solid interactions, defects and ionic transport in ceramics, and he currently leads a multidisciplinary research team in the area of defects and ion-solid interactions in ceramics. Dr. Weber is also the principal investigator on fundamental research projects on "Defects and Defect Processes in Ceramics" and "Materials Science of Actinides".
Research Interests
Dr. Weber's major research interests are in the areas of interaction of radiation with solids, defects and defect processes in solids, solid-state radiation effects, ion-beam modification of materials, and electronic and ionic transport. His research has included: radiation effects and ion-beam modification of ceramics, theory and computer simulations of ion-solid interactions, radiation and thermal stability of nuclear waste forms, physics of radiation detector materials, properties of high-temperature superconductors, alternative ceramics for solid oxide fuel cells, materials for high-temperature thermoelectrics, and fiber-matrix interfaces in ceramic composites. His current interests include the application of novel ion-beam analysis, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and computer simulation methods to the study of ion-beam processing of nanoclusters, irradiation effects, and materials interfaces.
Dr. Weber is the editor of five books and the author of five book chapters and over 425 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He has presented more than 125 invited seminars and papers at universities, national meetings, and international conferences.
Past Experience
In 1983, Dr. Weber was a visiting scientist at the European Institute for Transuranium Elements in Karlsruhe, Germany. From 1988 to 1993, Dr. Weber was on a special concurrent assignment to the Division of Materials Sciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U. S. Department of Energy.
Education
B.S., Physics (cum laude), University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1971)
M.S., Nuclear Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1972)
Ph.D., Nuclear Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1977)
Awards, Honors, & Appointments
Dr. Weber has been the recipient of a Best Paper Award from the American Ceramic Society (1981) and Materials Research Society (2001), the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1983), the U. S. Department of Energy's Materials Science Award for Research with Significant Implication for DOE Related Technologies (1995), the PNNL Director's Award for Scientific and Engineering Excellence (1995), the PNNL Chester L. Cooper Mentor of the Year Award (2005), the PNNL Laboratory Director's Award for Individual Lifetime Achievement in Science and Technology (2009), and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (2009). In 2001, his work on developing radiation-resistant ceramics was recognized by the DOE, Office of Science - Decades of Discovery as one of the top 101 innovations during the prior 25 years.
Dr. Weber has organized and chaired DOE Workshops and Panels on Irradiation Effects in Nuclear Waste Forms (1981), Radiation Effects on Materials in High-Radiation Environments (1990), Highly Conducting Ceramics (1990), Radiation Effects in Glasses for High-Level Waste and Pu Disposal (1996), and Radiation Effects in Crystalline Ceramics Relevant to High-Level Waste and Pu Disposition (1997). Dr. Weber has also co-organized and co-chaired the American Ceramic Society Symposium on the Performance of Ceramics Under Extreme Conditions (1994), the 9th International Conference on Radiation Effects in Insulators (1997), the American Ceramic Society Symposium on the Fabrication and Properties of Ceramics for Fusion Energy and Other High Radiation Environments (2000), the International Conference on Alternative Nuclear Waste Forms (2004), the 13th International Conference on Radiation Effects in Insulators (2005), the Materials Research Society Symposium on Growth, Modifications, and Analysis by Ion Beams at the Nanoscale (2005), the 8th International Conference on Computer Simulation of Radiation Effects in Solids (2006), the American Chemical Society Symposium on Nuclear Waste Forms: Current Solutions and Future Challenges (2007), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Symposium on Radiation Detectors for Global Security: The Need for Science-Driven Discovery.
Dr. Weber is a Fellow of The American Ceramic Society, an inaugural Fellow of the Materials Research Society, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Physical Society, the Böhmische Physical Society, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Pi Sigma. He currently serves as a Principal Editor for the Journal of Materials Research (2002-2009) and is on the editorial board for Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B (2003-2008). He is a member of the International Committee for Radiation Effects in Insulators and the International Committee for Computer Simulation of Radiation Effects in Solids.
Publications >View All Publications
Patents
Method of Immobilizing Weapons Plutonium to Provide a Durable, Disposable Waste Product, U.S. Patent 5,545,797 (August 13, 1996), with R. C. Ewing and W. Lutze of the University of New Mexico.
