Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2019 - 2023 Ph.D. Materials Science at Caltech – Pasadena, California
Research focused on ceramic coatings and glazes, with a specific interest in environmental degradation and surface interactions.
2017 - 2019 M.Sc. Materials Science at Caltech – Pasadena, California
2013 - 2017 B.A. Nanoscience, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials
Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin – Dublin, Ireland
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
9/22 to present Beal Family Postdoctoral Fellow in Art Conservation Science
Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at Harvard – Cambridge, MA
Prestigious fellowship studying artists' materials and techniques through scientific analyses. Working with collections featured in the Harvard Art Museums and collaborating institutions, including a wide variety of artists' media: paintings, manuscripts, ceramics, metal and stone objects. Characterization techniques include Raman, FTIR, XRF, SEM-EDX, MFT (Microfading Tester), PLM (Polarized Light Microscopy), FORS (Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectra), and EEM (excitation-emission matrix).
12/20 to 1/21 External Collaborator (working with Jennifer Mass)
Scientific Analysis of Fine Art (SAFA) – New York, NY
Short collaborative project between SAFA and Caltech. Used XRD analyses to help characterize decorative architectural panels with black PVD-deposited multilayer metal oxide coatings. Concurrently, helped interpret FTIR and SEM-EDX data to identify why these panels developed brown and white stains over time, and how this was related to reactions between titanium cladding and adhesive.
09/16 to 12/16 Undergraduate Senior Thesis Researcher (supervised by Prof. G. Spinks)
University of Wollongong – New South Wales, Australia
Carried out final year Research Project in the University of Wollongong, Australia. Thesis was titled “Fabricating 3D Structured Hydrogel Actuators”, where 3D printing was used to construct polymeric structures that could change form by absorbing or desorbing water, and by changing temperature.
06/16 to 08/16 Conservation Science Intern
Atelier del Restauro, Conservation & Scientific Analysis of Works of Art – Mosta, Malta
Worked on conservation treatments of sculptures, canvas paintings and furniture. Synthesized various types of solvent gels used to remove varnish layers in artworks. Studied the chemistry of pigments and learned how to make varnish paints. Fabricated stucco for limestone buildings out of Maltese sand, which involved monitoring the conductivity of the sand to withstand the problematic, humid climate of the Mediterranean island.
06/15 to 07/15 Summer Studentship in a Research Lab (supervised by Prof. R. Baker)
Trinity College Dublin – Dublin, Ireland
Worked on a project that studied how Uranium 238 can coordinate with an array of organic compounds. Synthesized organic ligands that were coordinated to Uranium.
06/14 to 07/14 Intern at Art Conservation Department (supervised by Muirne Lydon)
National Gallery of Ireland – Dublin, Ireland
Scientifically analyzed paint samples of Murillo’s The Prodigal Son Feasting and carried out further research on the materials and techniques used by Murillo.
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TEACHING AND ADVISING
· Guest-lectured Boston University's Research in Science & Engineering (RISE) program (July 2023). Introductory lecture on art conservation and heritage science aimed towards high-school students interested in scientific research and its related career paths.
· Guest-lectured 3.001 Science and Engineering of Materials, hosted by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (April 2023). Lectured on the intersection between materials science and art conservation. I defined types of artists’ materials; introduced the importance of materials analyses for provenance studies and degradation mitigation; spoke on the importance of non-invasive analytical techniques in the field. Throughout the lecture, I used case studies from my own postdoctoral research to illustrate examples.
· Co-teaching Materials Lab workshop at Harvard Art Museums aimed at high-school students from Cambridge Rindge Latin School (March-April 2023). Will show techniques behind paint-making using mineral and organic pigments and discuss uses of UV and IR imaging for analyses of paintings.
Teaching Assistant for Materials Research Lecture Seminar Series (January - April 2022, January - April 2020, January - April 2019). Organized and led student coffee hours with the guest speakers and showed the speakers around campus. Chaired weekly seminars, introducing the speakers and moderating Q&A.
· Co-mentored Tomas Grossmark (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF) 2021) in the Faber lab, working on acid rain interactions with aluminosilicates.
· Co-mentored Zane Taylor (SURF 2020) in the Faber lab, working on Böttger lusterware.
· Teaching Assistant for Fundamentals of Materials Science at Caltech (September – December 2019). Held weekly office hours, tutoring and helping students with their homework problem sets. Taught laboratory classes demonstrating the crystallization of polypropylene, and guest-taught a class on Thermodynamics and Phase Diagrams. Marked and graded weekly problem sets.
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AWARDS & ACADEMIC HONORS
· (2024) Chair of the Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research Gordon Research Seminar, Les Diablerets, Switzerland
· (2023) Conference organizer of ANAGPIC 2023 (Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation), Cambridge, MA
· (2022) Voted Best Talk in the Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research Gordon Research Seminar. Invited to present at the Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research Gordon Research Conference
· (2021) First place winner of 2021 Material Advantage Graduate Student Poster Contest
· (2021) First place winner of Art of Science Competition at Caltech
· (2020) Awarded the Amelia Earhart Fellowship by Zonta International
· (2017) Awarded Gold Medal with First Class Honours B.A. from Trinity College Dublin
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PUBLICATIONS
C.S. Chari, K.T. Faber, Oxidation resistance of AlN/BN via mullite-type Al18B4O33, Journal of the European Ceramic Society. 42 (2022) 3437–3445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.02.037.
C.S. Chari, K.T. Faber, B.W. McEnerney, R.R. Hofer, J.A. Wollmershauser, E.P. Gorzkowski, Graphite/Hexagonal Boron Nitride Bimaterials For Electric Propulsion, Application Number 63/401,226, 2022.
C.S. Chari, Z.W. Taylor, A. Bezur, S. Xie, K.T. Faber, Nanoscale engineering of gold particles in 18th century Böttger lusters and glazes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (2022) e2120753119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120753119.
C.S. Chari, With a touch of magic: Lessons learned from alchemists and historic ceramics, American Ceramic Society Bulletin. 101 (2022) 39-39.
C.S. Chari, B.W. McEnerney, R.R. Hofer, J.A. Wollmershauser, E.P. Gorzkowski, K.T. Faber, High-temperature carbothermal synthesis and characterization of graphite/h-BN bimaterials, Journal of the American Ceramic Society. (2022). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jace.18927
C. S. Chari, J. E. Heimann, Z. Rosenzweig, K. T. Faber, J. W. Bennett, Chemical Transformations of 2D Kaolinic Clay Mineral Surfaces from Sulfuric Acid Exposure, Langmuir. 39 (2023) 6964–6974. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00113
C. S. Chari, B.W. McEnerney, R.R. Hofer, C. M. Marrese-Reading, R. Lobbia, J.A. Wollmershauser, E.P. Gorzkowski, K.T. Faber (manuscript in preparation), “Effects of Plasma Exposure on Graphite/h-BN Bimaterials for Hall-Effect Thrusters”.
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PRESENTATIONS
C. S. Chari & K.T. Faber (2020, January). Multifunctional ceramic layers of hexagonal boron nitride and graphite. 44th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites of the American Ceramic Society, Daytona Beach, FL.
C. S. Chari & K. T. Faber (2021, February). Influence of Boria on the Oxidation of Aluminum Nitride. 45th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites of the American Ceramic Society (Virtual).
S. L. Corona (presenter), S. Lee, C. S. Chari, J. Na, K. Samwer, W. L. Johnson (2021, March). The Secondary Phase of Bulk Metallic Glass. Talk presented at the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society annual meeting and exhibition TMS2021 (Virtual).
C. S. Chari & K. T. Faber (2021, October). Oxidation Protection of AlN/BN via Al18B4O33. Poster presented at the Materials Science & Technology technical meeting and exhibition MS&T21, Columbus, OH.
C. S. Chari, K. T. Faber, B. W. McEnerney, R. R. Hofer, C. M. Marrese-Reading, J. A. Wollmershauser (2021, November). Advanced materials for electric propulsion. Talk presented at the Division 35 Chief Technologist Seminar at the Jet Propulsions Laboratory. (Invited)
C. S. Chari, Z. W. Taylor, A. Bezur, S. Xie, K. T. Faber (2021, December). Meissen mysteries: Decoding the structure and technology of 18th-century European gold-based porcelain glazes. Talk presented at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University. (Invited)
J. E. Heimann (presenter), C. S. Chari, G. A. Gates, Z. Rosenzweig, K. T. Faber, J. W. Bennett (2021, December). A Density Functional Theory investigation of small molecule adsorption on mineral surfaces in cultural heritage. Talk presented at the American Ceramic Society Frontier of Ceramics & Glass Webinar. (Invited)
C. S. Chari, K. T. Faber, B. W. McEnerney, R. R. Hofer, C. M. Marrese-Reading, J. A. Wollmershauser (2022, January). Hexagonal boron nitride and graphite bi-materials for electric propulsion. Talk presented at the 46th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites of the American Ceramic Society (Virtual).
J. E. Heimann (presenter), C. S. Chari, K. T. Faber, J. W. Bennett, Z. Rosenzweig (2022, July). A Density Functional Theory Investigation of Small Molecule Adsorption on Mineral Surfaces in Cultural Heritage. Poster presented at the Gordon Research Seminar on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
C. S. Chari, J. E. Heimann, G. A. Gates, Z. Rosenzweig, J. W. Bennett, K. T. Faber (2022, July). Corrosion of Earthenware in Acidic Environments: An Experimental Investigation of Chemical Transformations in Clay Mineral Surfaces. Talk presented at the Gordon Research Seminar on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
J. E. Heimann (presenter), C. S. Chari, K. T. Faber, J. W. Bennett, Z. Rosenzweig (2022, July). A Density Functional Theory Investigation of Small Molecule Adsorption on Mineral Surfaces in Cultural Heritage. Poster presented at the Gordon Research Conference on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
C. S. Chari, J. E. Heimann, G. A. Gates, Z. Rosenzweig, J. W. Bennett, K. T. Faber (2022, July). Corrosion of Earthenware in Acidic Environments: An Experimental Investigation of Chemical Transformations in Clay Mineral Surfaces. Talk presented at the Gordon Research Conference on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
C. S. Chari, Z. W. Taylor, A. Bezur, S. Xie, K. T. Faber (2022, September). Meissen mysteries: Decoding the structure and technology of 18th-century European gold-based porcelain glazes. Talk presented at the ICON Heritage Science Talk Series (Virtual).
C. S. Chari, J.E. Heimann, G.A. Gates, Z. Rosenzweig, J.W. Bennett, K.T. Faber (2022, October). Corrosion of Earthenware in Acidic Environments: An Experimental Investigation of Chemical Transformations in Clay Mineral Surfaces. Talk presented at the Materials Science & Technology technical meeting and exhibition MS&T22, Pittsburgh, PA.
C. S. Chari, A. Jain, G. Rayner, N. Khandekar, J. Kim, K. Eremin (2023, April). A Palette of Indian Pigments from a Workshop in Jaipur. Talk presented at the Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation, Cambridge, MA
C. S. Chari, A. Jain, G. Rayner, N. Khandekar, J. Kim, K. Eremin (2023, May). Investigating the Materials and Techniques Used in Traditional Miniature Paintings of Rajasthan. Talk presented at American Institute for Conservation’s 51st Annual Conference, Jacksonville, FL
C. S. Chari, A. Jain, G. Rayner, N. Khandekar, J. Kim, K. Eremin (2023, September). Investigating the Materials and Techniques Used in Traditional Miniature Paintings of Rajasthan. Poster to be presented at International Council of Museums – Committee for Conservation 2023, Valencia, Spain
C. S. Chari, A. Jain, G. Rayner, N. Khandekar, J. Kim, K. Eremin (2023, September). Non-invasive Identification of Pigments in Indian Manuscripts Using Principal Component Analysis and Specular Reflection FTIR Data. Virtual talk to be presented at IRUG15 (Infrared and Raman Users Group) 2023, Tokyo, Japan
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PROFFESIONAL AFFILIATIONS
· Post Graduate Member of the American Institute for Conservation
· Friend of the International Council of Museums – Committee for Conservation
· Associate Member and Young Professionals Network Member of the American Ceramic Society
· American Ceramic Society, President’s Council of Student Advisors
o Communication Committee Chair, responsible for running the social media pages of the council and organizing a monthly student column in the ACerS Bulletin. (October 2021 – 2022)
· American Ceramic Society, Art, Archaeology and Conservation Science Division of ACerS.
o Community forum Super Member (August 2020 – March 2021)
o President’s Council of Student Advisors Divisional Student Delegate (October 2021 – 2022)
· Applied Physics and Materials Science (APhMS) student-run Enrichment Committee at Caltech
o Social Chair, responsible for organizing social events for students in the department (July 2019 – 2020)
o Mentorship Program Chair, organized for incoming graduate students in APhMS (July 2019 – 2021)
· Member of ACerS's Global Graduate Researcher Network and Caltech Society of Women Engineers (Aug 2018 - 2022)
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SKILLS
o Analytical mind & problem solver
o Experienced multi-tasker
o Strong communicator
o Collaborative & patient
o Trained in microscopic and spectroscopic methods: SEM, TEM, EDX, XRD, XPS, UV-Vis, FTIR, Raman, XRF, GC-MS, PLM, Microfading
o User of: LaTeX, Origin, Matlab, Mathematica, VESTA and ChemDraw