Delbert E. Day, a Curator's Professor Emeritus of Ceramic Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, made the first U.S. glass melting experiments in micro-gravity on NASA's Space Shuttle.
Day was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2004 for the development of radiotherapeutic glass microspheres and their transfer to medical applications.
[4][5][6] Day earned a Bachelor of Science degree in ceramic engineering from the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (now Missouri S&T) in 1958, and a Master of Science degree and doctorate in ceramic technology from Pennsylvania State University in 1959 and 1961, respectively.
[7] In 1984, Day founded the Mo-Sci Corporation in Rolla, Missouri, which manufacturers high-tech glass products; as of 2007, the company was solely owned by Day's son, Ted.
[10] The 37,000-square-foot (3,400 m2) facility, completed in January 2017, occupies the first two floors of a new building on the north side of the medical center campus.