EODIAH Lecture: Amy Walker, “How a Materials Scientist thinks about Heritage Objects (and everything else!)”

In this talk I will discuss how scientific research can help support the conservation of heritage objects through collaboration with museums and conservation researchers. Several examples will be discussed including the analysis of dyes used in the colored papers of José Posada’s prints to aid in the development of a conservation treatment, investigating the degradation of historic glasses, providing new insights into Laura Gilpin’s photographic practices, and studying the blackening of enamel glazes and lead glazes on earthenware in anerobic environments.

Amy V. Walker is a newly appointed Edith O'Donnell Distinguished Chair in Conservation Science and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. The ultimate goal of Amy Walker’s research is the development of simple, robust methods for constructing complex two- and three-dimensional nanostructures by manipulating interfacial chemistry as well as developing analytical methods to probe these structures. She also collaborates with museums and conservation researchers in applying an extensive array of modern analytical techniques in studying museum artefacts and heritage objects to understand degradation processes and develop new conservation techniques. Amy received her BA(Hons) in Natural Sciences (Experimental and Theoretical Physics) in 1995 and her PhD in Chemistry in 1998 from the University of Cambridge. In 2002 she joined the Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis as an assistant professor and inaugural member of the Center for Materials Innovation. In 2009 she joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas as an associate professor and was promoted to professor in 2015. For her work she has been awarded a 2003 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award, a DuPont Young Professor Grant (2006-2009), a 2008 ACS PROGRESS/Dreyfus Lectureship and Fellow of the AVS (2015). She has also served in a number of leadership roles as the AVS 2020 President, Inaugural Chair of the AIP Federation Assembly (2024) and is a current member of the AIP Board of Directors.

RSVP: Heather [email protected]

Image: Fernanda Valverde and Ariadna Rodriguez, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, working with Alexandra DiCarlo, University of Texas at Dallas, on the Raman spectroscopic analysis of a Laura Gilpin print. Credit https://www.cartermuseum.org/blog/shedding-light-laura-gilpins-photographic-processes-collaboration-between-carter-and-ut-dallas