Curriculum Vitae

Appointments

Beal Family Postdoctoral Fellow, Straus Center at Harvard University, 2022 - present

Education

Ph.D. in Materials Science, Caltech, 2023. Adviser: Prof. Katherine T. Faber
M.S. in Materials Science, Caltech, 2019
B.S. in Nanoscience, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, with First Class Honors and Gold Medal, 2017

Honors


Manuscripts In Preparation

C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, S. Zheng, A. Jain, J. Kim, “Investigating the Light-stability and Laser-induced Degradation of Arsenic Sulfide Pigments”.


A. McClelland, C.S. Chari, “Decoupling Specular and Diffuse Contributions Observed in Reflectance FTIR Spectra of Historic Pigments”. 


Manuscripts in Review

C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, A. Jain, J. Kim, R. Newman, “Characterization of Indian Pigments: Investigating the Color Palette of a Traditional Jaipuri Workshop”. 

C.S. Chari, B.W. McEnerney, R.R. Hofer, C. M. Marrese-Reading, R. Lobbia, J.A. Wollmershauser, E.P. Gorzkowski, K.T. Faber, “Effects of Plasma Exposure on Graphite/h-BN Bimaterials for Hall-Effect Thrusters”. 


Peer-Reviewed Publications

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, 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. 106 (2023) 2225-2239. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jace.18927

• Cover article

• Editor’s Choice


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

• PNAS, In This Issue

• Nature Research Highlight

• Ceramic Tech Today


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

Patents

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, US App. No. 18/238,101 (2024)

Book Chapters

G. Rayner, C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, A. A. McClelland, “Scientific Analysis” in Pietro Lorenzetti’s Crucifixion at The Harvard Art Museums: A Technical Examination and Reconsideration by J. Hamburger, Cambridge, Harvard University Press (2024) ISBN 9780674299825

Published Datasets

C.S. Chari, “Spectral Reference Database for the Analysis and Identification of Indian Pigments”, Harvard Dataverse, V1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DQBVOU

C.S. Chari and A.A. McClelland, “Reflectance FTIR Spectra for the Characterization of Pigments”, Harvard Dataverse, V1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CXA24H


Conference Proceedings

C.S. Chari, N. Ledoux, K. Eremin, S. Ebbinghaus (2025, May). Exploring the High-temperature Degradation of Athenian Red-figure Pottery Used in Cremation Burials. Talk to be presented at American Institute for Conservation’s 53rd Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

C.S. Chari, M. Tarkanian, K. Eremin, P. Coombe, S. Ebbinghaus (2025, May). Unveiling Ancient Craftsmanship: Characterization and reconstruction of a Celtic leaded bronze bracelet. Poster to be presented at TECHNART 2025, Perugia, Italy.

V. Patil, C.S. Chari (2025, February). Inside an early sixteenth-century Indian Artists’ Workshop: Technical and Scientific Insights into the Dispersed Bhagavata Purana. Talk to be presented at the College Art Association 113th Annual Conference, New York, NY. 

C.S. Chari, L. Cooper, K. Eremin, L. Bertrand, S. Kraemer, J. Gardener, E. Pouyet, A. Shortland, L. Dussubieux, M. Walton (2024, August). Deciphering the Ancient Nanotechnologies of Numbered Jun Glazes. Talk and poster presented at the Gordon Research Seminar, and poster presented at the Gordon Research Conference on Solid State Studies in Ceramics, South Hadley, MA. 

C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, A. McClelland, S. Zheng, J. Kim, A. Jain (2024, July). Deadly Red: Investigating the Light-induced Color Changes of Pararealgar. Poster presented at the Gordon Research Seminar and Gordon Research Conference on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

C.S. Chari, K. T. Faber, R.R. Hofer (presenter), B.W. McEnerney, S.M. Arestie, R.B. Lobbia, C.M. Marrese-Reading (2024, June). Evaluation of Graphite/h-BN Bimaterials for Electric Propulsion. Talk presented at the 38th International Electric Propulsion Conference in Toulouse, France.

C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, A. Jain, S. Zheng, J. Kim (2024, May). Evaluating the Light-stability of Roasted Arsenic Sulfide Pigments. Talk presented at American Institute for Conservation’s 52nd Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.

A. Chipkin (presenter), C. Morilla (presenter), C.S. Chari (2024, May). Rediscovering and Restoring the Harvard Art Museum’s Cardona Altarpiece. Talk presented at American Institute for Conservation’s 52nd Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.

C.S. Chari, A. McClelland, 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. Talk presented virtually at the 15th Annual Meeting of Infrared and Raman Users Group, Tokyo, Japan.

C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, A. Jain, G. Rayner, N. Khandekar, J. Kim (2023, September). Investigating the Materials and Techniques Used in Traditional Rajasthani Miniature Paintings. Poster presented at International Council of Museums – Committee for Conservation 2023, Valencia, Spain.

C.S. Chari, K. Eremin, A. Jain, G. Rayner, N. Khandekar, J. Kim (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, April). A Palette of Indian Pigments from a Workshop in Jaipur. Talk presented at the Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation 2023, Cambridge, MA.

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, 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 and Gordon Research Conference 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, 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).

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.

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, February). Influence of Boria on the Oxidation of Aluminum Nitride. Talk presented at the 45th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites of the American Ceramic Society (Virtual).

C.S. Chari & K.T. Faber (2020, January). Multifunctional ceramic layers of hexagonal boron nitride and graphite. Talk presented at the 44th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites of the American Ceramic Society, Daytona Beach, FL.

Invited Talks

C.S. Chari (2025, August). Hidden Secrets in Ancient Materials: Unveiling Art Through the Lens of Materials Science. Invited keynote speaker at the 2025 Colorado Center for Advanced Ceramics conference.

C.S. Chari (2025, March). Scientific Insights into the ‘Dispersed’ Bhagavata Purana. Talk presented at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University.

C.S. Chari, V. Patil (2025, February). Inside an early sixteenth-century Indian Artists’ Workshop: Technical and Scientific Insights into the ‘Dispersed’ Bhagavata Purana. Talk presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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.

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.

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.

Other Research Talks

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  ICON Heritage Science Talk Series.

Fellowships and Grants

Beal Family Fellowship, Harvard University, 2022-2025
Amelia Earhart Fellowship, Zonta International, 2020
Graduate Research Fellowship, Caltech, 2017

Teaching and Mentorship

Guest Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3.001: Science and Engineering of Materials, 2023, 2024

Guest Lecturer, Harvard University, 26E: Beautiful Physics, 2023

Guest Lecturer, Boston University, Research in Science and Engineering Program, 2023

Co-mentor, Caltech, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, 2020, 2021

Head Teaching Assistant, Caltech, Materials Research Lecture Seminar, 2019, 2020, 2022

Head Teaching Assistant, Caltech, MS 115: Fundamentals of Materials Science, 2019

Invited Public Talks and Outreach

"Effect of Time in Conservation Science", Guest Speaker, Harvard Art Museums, Summer Institute of Technical Studies in Art, 2024

"The Importance of Color—Insights into the Pigments Featured in Imagine Me and You", Presenter, Harvard Art Museums, 2024 (web)

"Becoming da Vinci", Guest Speaker, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 2023

Press Coverage

“We know about the wars. What about the flowers?”, The Harvard Gazette, 2024/07/31 (web)

“In Photos: The Art of Conservation at the Straus Center”, The Harvard Crimson, 2024/04/03 (web)

“Revealing secrets of the past—nanoscale engineering gave historic glaze its iridescence”, Ceramic Tech Today, 2022/05/13 (web)

“The nanoparticles that give a famed antique porcelain its dazzle”, Nature Research Highlight, 2022/04/28 (web)

“Parsing the sheen of porcelain”, PNAS, In This Issue, 2022/05/03 (web)

Professional Service

Peer Reviewer for Archaeometry, Studies in Conservation

Conference Chair, Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research Gordon Research Seminar, Les Diablerets, Switzerland, 2024

Co-Organizer, ANAGPIC 2023 (Conference of the Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation), Cambridge, MA, 2023

Communications Chair, President's Council of Student Advisors, American Ceramic Society, 2021-2022

Divisional Student Delegate, Art, Archaeology and Conservation Science Division, American Ceramic Society, 2021-2022

Mentorship Program Chair, Applied Physics and Materials Science (APhMS) Enrichment Committee, Caltech, 2019-2021

Social Chair, APhMS Enrichment Committee, Caltech, 2019-2020

Professional Society Membership

Current: American Ceramic Society (Associate Member and Young Professionals Network Member), American Institute for Conservation (Professional Member), International Council of Museums - Committee for Conservation (Friend), College Art Association (CAA)

Past: Caltech Society of Women Engineers (Member)

Languages

English (native), Spanish (native), French (B2, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)

Technical Expertise

Raman, Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy (transmission, ATR, reflectance FTIR), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), X-ray diffraction (powder, single crystal XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Polarized light microscopy (PLM), Optical microscopy, Electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Excitation-emission matrix (EEM), Fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), Microfading tester (MFT), Fractography, MATLAB, VESTA