The Intersection of Glass Science, Material Innovation, and Human Discovery
Bullseye Glass Co. is pleased to share that our co-founder and CEO, Daniel Schwoerer, has been granted the Stookey Lecture of Discovery award, presented by the Glass & Optical Materials Division (GOMD) of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). The award is among the most distinguished honors in the technical glass community, recognizing a lifetime of innovative exploratory work involving new glass materials, phenomena, or processes with commercial significance or potential.
The award is named for Dr. S. Donald Stookey—the Corning scientist whose fundamental research into photosensitive and photochromic glasses, and his discovery of glass-ceramics, helped define the field of specialty glass in the twentieth century. Stookey received the National Medal of Technology in 1986. To be recognized by an award in his name is both humbling and inspiring.
A Career Built on Community, Curiosity, and People-Empowering Vision
Dan Schwoerer co-founded Bullseye in 1974 with Ray Ahlgren and Boyce Lundstrom, with an early mission rooted in both material innovation and resource stewardship: producing hand-rolled colored sheet glass from recycled bottle cullet, inspired by Oregon’s landmark 1971 Bottle Bill. In 1977, that work culminated in a U.S. patent for opalescent glass formulations derived from recycled glass.
The technical milestone that most reshaped the contemporary art glass field came in the early 1980s, when Bullseye developed its palette of fusing-compatible colored glasses—a comprehensive system of formulations engineered so that dissimilar colors could be combined in a kiln without generating residual thermal stress in the finished work. This required solving real glass science problems: matching coefficients of thermal expansion across a wide range of colorant chemistries, understanding viscosity-temperature relationships, and developing quality controls rigorous enough to ensure compatibility at production scale. The result opened entirely new possibilities for glass as both an artistic and an architectural material.
Bullseye Glass creates custom glass formulas and products for the technical glass industry. Email studio@bullseyeglass.com to learn more.
Manufacturing Innovation with Material Stewardship
Bullseye’s technical development has never been separate from its commitment to responsible manufacturing. In 2004, the company received the City of Portland Water Conservation Award after investing in a cooling water recycling system that cut water consumption by 60 percent. The following year, Bullseye converted its melting furnaces from air-gas to oxy-fuel combustion—a change that reduced carbon emissions by 40 percent and NOx emissions by nearly 90 percent. These aren’t incidental footnotes; they reflect the belief that material quality and environmental accountability belong in the same conversation.
Glass as a Gateway to Scientific Curiosity
Dan has long believed that glass—precisely because of its unusual physical properties—is one of the most powerful teaching materials available. Together with his partner and co-owner, Lani McGregor, he has developed children’s education programs that use the hands-on experience of cutting, breaking, and kilnforming glass to open questions about materials science: Why does glass flow when heated? Why can it be scored and fractured so cleanly along a stress line? Those questions, asked by a curious ten-year-old, are not so different from the ones that drove Stookey’s research. Dan and Lani established a foundation to carry this work forward, promoting glass as a gateway to science education for young learners.
About the ACerS Stookey Lecture of Discovery
The Stookey Lecture of Discovery is presented by the GOMD of the American Ceramic Society. The award recognizes contributions of outstanding research on new glass materials, phenomena, or processes that have commercial significance or the potential for commercial impact. The criterion for selection is technical innovation. The recipient presents a distinguished lecture at the GOMD Annual Meeting and receives a glass piece and an honorarium sponsored by Corning Incorporated and Coe College.
Previous recipients represent some of the most consequential figures in glass science research. We are deeply honored that Dan’s work—building across five decades from recycled bottle glass to patented formulations to oxy-fuel furnace systems—has been recognized among that company.