MRS Press Release

WARRENDALE, PA  – [October 3, 2011] –The Materials Research Society (MRS) David Turnbull Lectureship recognizes the career of a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to understanding materials phenomena and properties through research, writing and lecturing, as exemplified by David Turnbull. This year's award will be presented to Phaedon Avouris of IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York "for his development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, in particular for carbon nanotubes, graphene and semiconductor surfaces, through imaging and measurement of their electronic structure and electrical properties; their chemical and physical modification by scanning probe techniques; and their incorporation into advanced electronic and photonic devices." Avouris will deliver the David Turnbull Lecture, Graphene—Applications in Electronics and Optoelectronics, at the 2011 MRS Fall Meeting on Tuesday, November 29, at 5:15 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Boston Hotel. He will be presented with the 2011 David Turnbull Lectureship at the Awards Ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30, also in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

Avouris' research work spans a broad spectrum and has had a profound impact on our understanding of the physics, chemistry and applications of nanoscale materials—to such an extent that he can be considered a founder of the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Avouris received his BSc degree in chemistry from the Aristotle University in Greece (1968) and his PhD degree in physical chemistry from Michigan State University (1974). After postdoctoral work in physical chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles and AT&T Bell Labs, he joined the IBM Research Division in 1978 and became manager of chemical physics in 1984. He is currently an IBM Fellow and manager of nanoscience and nanotechnology. He has also been an adjunct professor at Columbia University and at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

His research contributions to nanoscience, starting with his early work on the physical chemistry of the surfaces of solids with adsorbed atoms and molecules, and leading to his recent work which focuses on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene for electronics and photonics applications, have added up to over 400 publications and 25,000 citations.

Avouris has also contributed to the development of the field of nanoscience in other ways. He organized an early conference on nanotechnology in 1992, sponsored by NATO and the Engineering Foundation, and edited one of the first books on nanoscience, Atomic and Nanometer Scale Modification of Materials (Plenum, 1993). He co-organized the first conference on “Atomic Level Electronics” (Adriatico Research Conference), the first Engineering Foundation Conference on “Nano- and Molecular Electronics,” the first U.S. National Academy Conference on Nanoscience and numerous symposia on nanoscience and nanotechnology for various professional conferences. He has served on the advisory editorial boards of numerous journals devoted to nanoscience and technology and is an editor of the Springer book series on nanoscience. Avouris has published articles explaining nanoscience and nanotechnology in MRS Bulletin, IEEE Spectrum, Physics Today, Materials Today, Accounts of Chemical Research, and Industrial Physicist. He has trained many postdoctoral researchers who have gone onto academic and industrial positions around the world.

Avouris is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Athens, as well as a senior member of IEEE and a fellow of the American Physical Society, the U.K. Institute of Physics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Vacuum Society, the New York Academy of Science, and the World Technology Network. His honors include the Irving Langmuir Prize for Chemical Physics (American Physical Society), the Medard W. Welch Award (American Vacuum Society), the IEEE Nanotechnology Pioneer Award, the Richard Feynman Prize for Nanotechnology (Foresight Institute), the Richard E. Smalley Prize (Electrochemical Society), the Julius Springer Award for Applied Physics, the AVS Nanotechnology Research Award, the IBM Pat Goldberg Memorial Award, and many IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement awards.