The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science recently selected 73 scientists from across the nation to receive significant funding for research as part of the DOE’s Early Career Research Program. Among the recipients are Materials Research Society members: Veronica Augustyn, Miaofang Chi, Robert Coridan, Shudipto Dishan, Diane Gamzina, Lucas Lindsay, Sarah Watzman, and Qimin Yan.
This funding is intended to increase the scientific workforce in the United States by providing support to exceptional researchers during their early-career years, when many scientists perform their most influential work.
Suveen N. Mathaudhu, associate professor and Materials Science and Engineering Chair at the University of California, Riverside, recently received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers. The award recognizes individuals who have contributed to the advancement of science, technology, education, and math education, and have a commitment to community service through scientific leadership, public education, or outreach.
Lenore Miller, a senior at Fayetteville State University in the Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Materials Science, led the team that won the NASA best business case for rapid detection and identification of pathogens. She has been awarded back-to-back internships at the NASA Langley Research Center. Her research will focus on thin-film coatings and the effect of hypersonic light projectiles on these coatings.
The 2018 iMatSci Innovator team Zylö Therapeutics, LLC recently completed a USD$1.2 million funding round and entered into an exclusive agreement with Ferndale Pharma Group to supply their technology, Z-pods.
These microscopic particles are engineered to topically deliver a therapeutic payload over an extended period of time (12–48 h). This technology harnesses the therapeutic power of nitric oxide, which is perhaps the most versatile molecule within the human body. Other payloads include lidocaine, benzocaine, curcumin, resveratrol, vitamin E, and cannabidiol.
Materials Research Society Fellow, Nicola Spaldin, professor of materials theory at ETH Zürich, was awarded the 2019 Swiss Science Prize from the Marcel Benoist Foundation. She was selected for this prize “for her groundbreaking research in multiferroic materials, with which she has laid the foundations for new ultrafast and energy-efficient data storage technologies.”
Alexandra Navrotsky will rejoin Arizona State University as a professor and to conduct research at the Navrotsky Eyring Center for Materials of the Universe. This center will bring scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs together to form cross-disciplinary research teams to discover new materials and technologies, and to understand our planet, solar system, and universe.
Cato T. Laurencin received the 2019 Simon Ramo Founders Award from the National Academy of Engineers. He received this award “for fundamental, critical, and groundbreaking scientific advances in the engineering of tissues, guiding technology and science policy, and promoting diversity and excellence in science.” Laurencin is a 2014 MRS Fellow, and the 2016 Fred Kavli Distinguished Lecturer in Materials Science.
Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman is joining XJet Ltd. to lead their Scientific Advisory Board. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011 for the discovery of quasicrystals. In this new role, he will assist in guiding the applications, materials, and the way materials are used to help transform additive manufacturing in various industries.
Congratulations to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino, 2019 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, for their work on the development of lithium-ion batteries. The development of these batteries helped to launch a technological revolution that gave rise to electric cars, cell phones, and more. Goodenough has been an active MRS member and author since the late 1980s. He was awarded the Materials Research Society’s highest honor, the Von Hippel Award, in 1989. Whittingham has been a committed MRS member, author, and volunteer since the late 1980s. He currently serves on the editorial boards of MRS Bulletin and MRS Energy & Sustainability. He was named a MRS Fellow in 2013 and was awarded the David Turnbull Lectureship in 2018.
