WARRENDALE, PA – The
Materials Research Society (MRS) has selected John A. Rogers, director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), to receive the 2013 Mid-Career Researcher Award “for fundamental and applied contributions to materials, mechanics designs, and assembly techniques for stretchable/flexible electronic systems.” Rogers will be recognized during the
award presentations at the
2013 MRS Spring Meeting on Wednesday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. in the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. The
MRS Mid-Career Researcher Award, endowed by Aldrich Materials Science, recognizes exceptional achievements in materials research made by mid-career professionals.
"Aldrich is pleased to support the materials research community through our participation in the Mid-Career Researcher Award. Professor Rogers’ achievements are a notable and inspiring example of how fundamental and applied research can deliver exciting new technologies for the real world," remarked Bryce P. Nelson, Initiative Lead for Aldrich Materials Science.
Rogers, who holds the Swanlund Chair at UIUC with a primary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, changed the way researchers think about the possibilities in the field of flexible/stretchable electronics. In particular, he established comprehensive routes to semiconductor devices and integrated systems that offer the operational performance of conventional, wafer-based technologies, but with the ability to bend, fold, twist, stretch, and wrap complex, curvilinear, and time-dynamic surfaces in ways that would otherwise be impossible.
By pioneering the use of assemblies of semiconductor nanostructures, Rogers enabled semiconductor devices to be formed on amorphous, low-temperature substrates with performance that is superior, by several orders of magnitude, to that possible with alternative materials. The materials he used range from nanomembranes/ribbons of monocrystalline silicon and gallium arsenide to arrays/networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes as effective thin films for high-performance electronic devices.
Rogers obtained his BA and BS degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. From MIT, he received SM degrees in physics and in chemistry and a PhD in physical chemistry. He has published nearly 400 papers and holds over 80 patents. Rogers is a Fellow of MRS, IEEE, APS, and AAAS, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His research has been recognized with many awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2009 and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2011.
About the Materials Research Society
MRS is an organization of over 13,000 materials researchers from academia, industry and government worldwide, and a recognized leader in promoting the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research and technology to improve the quality of life. MRS members are students and professionals hailing from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering—the full spectrum of materials research. Headquartered in Warrendale, Pennsylvania (USA), MRS membership now spans 90 countries, with approximately 45 percent of members residing outside the United States.
MRS serves and engages members across generations to advance their careers and promote materials research and innovation. The Society produces high-quality meetings and publications, assuring that members of all career stages can present and publish their most important and timely work to an international and interdisciplinary audience. MRS continues to expand its professional development portfolio, as well as promote diversity and inclusion in the scientific workforce, with career services for researchers worldwide. The Society advocates for the importance of scientific research and innovation to policymakers and the community. And the MRS Awards program honors those whose work has already had a major impact in the field, as well as those whose work shows great promise for future leadership.
For more information about the Materials Research Society visit
mrs.org and follow
@Materials_MRS.