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Prizewinning inventions
PEOPLE & PLACES UPDATE
Promising careers get recognition President Bush has honored 57 young US researchers with Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. The awards recognize promising new faculty members, each nominated by the federal departments and agencies that fund their work. Several materials scientists are among those named, including Susmita Bose of Washington State University, Jia G. Lu of the University of California, Irvine, Dan M. Stamper-Kurn of the University of California at Berkeley, Christine Orme of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Carl Boehlert of Alfred University, and Eric R. Weeks of Emory University. Material properties gain big win A $300 000 share of the 2004 Global Energy International Prize has gone to Alexander Sheindlin for fundamental investigations of thermophysical properties of matter for power engineering. Sheindlin, one of three winners of the award, is an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and honorary director of the RAS Associated Institute of High Temperatures. His work has included the study of the thermophysical properties of metals and their vapors, which has found application in nuclear power plants. The prize recognizes outstanding research in energy development and power generation by international researchers, although it was instigated in Russia and is funded by Russian energy companies. Materials to reduce solar cell cost The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded £4.5 million over four years to six UK universities and seven companies to develop lowercost, higher-efficiency thin-film solar cell materials. The Photovoltaic Material for the 21st Century project forms part of the EPSRC’s Supergen initiative, a £25 million program to investigate alternative energy sources. The recipients are the Universities of Bath, Durham, Wales, Northumbria, Southampton, and Loughborough, Crystalox, MATS UK, Millbrook Instruments, Epichem, Kurt J. Lesker, Oxford Lasers, and Gatan UK.
Prizewinning inventions Edith Flanigen, who developed a new generation of molecular sieves, and Nick Holonyak, Jr., inventor of the first practical red lightemitting diode (LED), have both won 2004 Lemelson-MIT prizes for technological innovation. Flanigen received $100 000 for the 2004 LemelsonMIT Lifetime Achievement Award. She and coworkers at Union Carbide developed a large number of molecular sieves with novel structures and compositions. The materials have uses in many applications, including petroleum refining and petrochemical processes, where they reduce energy costs and industrial waste. Flanigen was the first woman to hold the position of senior research fellow at Union Carbide, where she worked as a research chemist for over four decades. Holonyak, the John Bardeen Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was received the $500 000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention. “Holonyak’s work is present in many of the electronic devices we use today,” says Merton C. Flemings, director of the Lemelson-MIT program. “Within the next decade, LEDs could potentially make the incandescent light bulb obsolete.” The first student of John Bardeen at the University of Illinois, Holonyak later joined Bell Labs and General Electric.
Reward for being Good Mary L. Good, dean of the College of Information Science and Systems Engineering and Donaghey University Professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, has won the 2004 Vannevar Bush Award for her career-long contributions to and leadership in science, engineering, and technology. Good has worked in many areas of academia, industry, and government. She spent almost 25 years as a chemistry professor at Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans, before joining Allied Signal (now Honeywell). Good also served on the Technology Administration at the US Department of Commerce and was a member of the National Science Board for 12 years.
Raivio to boost basic research Kari Raivio, chancellor of the University of Helsinki, has been elected president of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) for a three-year term. The 12-member organization was established in 2002 to promote the basic research carried out in European universities. LERU seeks to stress the importance of fundamental investigations and defend the interests of research institutions. The League includes the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Geneva, Helsinki, Leiden, and Oxford, Ruprecht-KarlsUniversität Heidelberg, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Università degli studi di Milano, LudwigMaximilians-Universität München, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg.
Success built on scaffolds The National Science Foundation’s award for young researchers under 35 has been presented to Kristi S. Anseth, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Alan T. Waterman Award, which consists of a medal and $500 000 towards the winner’s research, recognizes original and innovative achievements that have had a significant impact in their field. Anseth is pursuing the rational design of biomaterials for tissue engineering, in particular using photopolymerization processes. “I am very humbled by this award and it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” she says.
Institute names award winners The winners of the UK IOM3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining) awards for 2004 have been announced. Two prizes go to researchers at the University of Cambridge: Bill Clyne’s work on composite materials is recognized with the Griffith Medal and Paul A. Midgley’s use of advanced transmission electron microscopy for materials analysis wins the Rosenhain Medal. The Netlon Award goes to Ian M. Ward of the University of Leeds for his work in polymer physics. Larry L. Hench, professor of ceramic materials and codirector of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre at Imperial College London, receives the Chapman Medal for biomedical materials development, particularly the discovery of Bioglass®. Biomaterials research is also recognized with the presentation of the Swinburne Award to James M. Courtney of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow for his work on blood-contacting polymers.
Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to [email protected]
July/August 2004
59
Promising careers get recognition President Bush has honored 57 young US researchers with Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. The awards recognize promising new faculty members, each nominated by the federal departments and agencies that fund their work. Several materials scientists are among those named, including Susmita Bose of Washington State University, Jia G. Lu of the University of California, Irvine, Dan M. Stamper-Kurn of the University of California at Berkeley, Christine Orme of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Carl Boehlert of Alfred University, and Eric R. Weeks of Emory University. Material properties gain big win A $300 000 share of the 2004 Global Energy International Prize has gone to Alexander Sheindlin for fundamental investigations of thermophysical properties of matter for power engineering. Sheindlin, one of three winners of the award, is an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and honorary director of the RAS Associated Institute of High Temperatures. His work has included the study of the thermophysical properties of metals and their vapors, which has found application in nuclear power plants. The prize recognizes outstanding research in energy development and power generation by international researchers, although it was instigated in Russia and is funded by Russian energy companies. Materials to reduce solar cell cost The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded £4.5 million over four years to six UK universities and seven companies to develop lowercost, higher-efficiency thin-film solar cell materials. The Photovoltaic Material for the 21st Century project forms part of the EPSRC’s Supergen initiative, a £25 million program to investigate alternative energy sources. The recipients are the Universities of Bath, Durham, Wales, Northumbria, Southampton, and Loughborough, Crystalox, MATS UK, Millbrook Instruments, Epichem, Kurt J. Lesker, Oxford Lasers, and Gatan UK.
Prizewinning inventions Edith Flanigen, who developed a new generation of molecular sieves, and Nick Holonyak, Jr., inventor of the first practical red lightemitting diode (LED), have both won 2004 Lemelson-MIT prizes for technological innovation. Flanigen received $100 000 for the 2004 LemelsonMIT Lifetime Achievement Award. She and coworkers at Union Carbide developed a large number of molecular sieves with novel structures and compositions. The materials have uses in many applications, including petroleum refining and petrochemical processes, where they reduce energy costs and industrial waste. Flanigen was the first woman to hold the position of senior research fellow at Union Carbide, where she worked as a research chemist for over four decades. Holonyak, the John Bardeen Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was received the $500 000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention. “Holonyak’s work is present in many of the electronic devices we use today,” says Merton C. Flemings, director of the Lemelson-MIT program. “Within the next decade, LEDs could potentially make the incandescent light bulb obsolete.” The first student of John Bardeen at the University of Illinois, Holonyak later joined Bell Labs and General Electric.
Reward for being Good Mary L. Good, dean of the College of Information Science and Systems Engineering and Donaghey University Professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, has won the 2004 Vannevar Bush Award for her career-long contributions to and leadership in science, engineering, and technology. Good has worked in many areas of academia, industry, and government. She spent almost 25 years as a chemistry professor at Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans, before joining Allied Signal (now Honeywell). Good also served on the Technology Administration at the US Department of Commerce and was a member of the National Science Board for 12 years.
Raivio to boost basic research Kari Raivio, chancellor of the University of Helsinki, has been elected president of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) for a three-year term. The 12-member organization was established in 2002 to promote the basic research carried out in European universities. LERU seeks to stress the importance of fundamental investigations and defend the interests of research institutions. The League includes the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Geneva, Helsinki, Leiden, and Oxford, Ruprecht-KarlsUniversität Heidelberg, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Università degli studi di Milano, LudwigMaximilians-Universität München, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg.
Success built on scaffolds The National Science Foundation’s award for young researchers under 35 has been presented to Kristi S. Anseth, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The Alan T. Waterman Award, which consists of a medal and $500 000 towards the winner’s research, recognizes original and innovative achievements that have had a significant impact in their field. Anseth is pursuing the rational design of biomaterials for tissue engineering, in particular using photopolymerization processes. “I am very humbled by this award and it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” she says.
Institute names award winners The winners of the UK IOM3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining) awards for 2004 have been announced. Two prizes go to researchers at the University of Cambridge: Bill Clyne’s work on composite materials is recognized with the Griffith Medal and Paul A. Midgley’s use of advanced transmission electron microscopy for materials analysis wins the Rosenhain Medal. The Netlon Award goes to Ian M. Ward of the University of Leeds for his work in polymer physics. Larry L. Hench, professor of ceramic materials and codirector of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre at Imperial College London, receives the Chapman Medal for biomedical materials development, particularly the discovery of Bioglass®. Biomaterials research is also recognized with the presentation of the Swinburne Award to James M. Courtney of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow for his work on blood-contacting polymers.
Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to [email protected]
July/August 2004
59