On April 2, 2009, at the invitation of Prof. Hongjie Luo, Pamela Vandiver, professor from the department of materials science and engineering, university of Arizona, visited Shanghai Institute of Ceramics and gave a brilliant academic lecture titled “Studies on Ancient Ceramics”.

Prof. Vandiver made a brief introduction about the advantages of OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) technique in understanding phase relationships in glazes and for nondestructive identification of ware characteristics, such as three-dimensional tomography, non-destructive evaluation, a fast and inexpensive method suitable for transparent and translucent materials. She gave several examples of the application of OCT for Identification of the bubbles, crystals, glass phase and liquid-liquid phase separation in Chinese Glazes, including Qingbai glaze, Jianyang glaze, Longquan glaze, Jun glaze and Southern Song Guan glaze. She also described Central Asian technologies of porcelain and pottery making.

The lecture aroused great interests among the attendants. Researchers and students had lively discussions over the issues of common concern. Prof. Hongjie Luo, Prof. Weidong Li and Prof.  Shangjun Zhuo exchanged insights with Pamela Vandiver on the future development of ancient ceramics study and cultural heritage conservation in Shanghai Institute of Ceramics. Prof. Vandiver thought that as the Key Scientific Research Base of Scientific Studies on Ancient Ceramics, State Administration for Cultural Heritage, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics will surely continue to take the leading position in study and conservation of ancient ceramics.