WARRENDALE, PA—The Materials Research Society's (MRS) Innovation in Materials Characterization Award, endowed by Toh-Ming Lu and Gwo-Ching Wang, honors an outstanding advance in materials characterization that notably increases knowledge of the structure, composition, in situ behavior under outside stimulus, electronic behavior, or other characterization feature, of materials. This year the award will honor John M. Carpenter of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) "for innovations in neutron sources that have fundamentally changed their performance and enabled opportunities for further advancement of materials that improve the quality of life." Carpenter will be presented with the award on April 8, 2015, during the Award Ceremony of the 2015 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco. He will present his award talk, History, Development and Applications of Neutron Sources, on Tuesday, April 7, from 6:15-7 p.m. in Ballroom B of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. This session will be recorded with video, audio and presentation materials and will be available for free viewing from MRS OnDemandshortly after the Meeting.
Neutron scattering is one of the most important characterization tools available to materials scientists. The strengths of neutron scattering-sensitivity to hydrogen, deep penetration into materials, inelastic excitations, sensitivity to magnetism-have been critical in our understanding of high-temperature superconductivity (inelastic excitations), spin structure in exotic materials (magnetism), the function of proteins in pharmaceuticals (hydrogen), and sources of fatigue in reinforcement cables for bridges (deep penetration).
One of Carpenter's major contributions to materials science is the invention of the accelerator-based high-intensity pulsed neutron source. He recognized the value of using the intrinsic time structure of a pulsed spallation neutron source to perform neutron scattering. He also recognized that with clever design of the spallation target and its moderator and reflector assemblies, the efficiency in converting proton beam power to neutron production while maintaining very sharp neutron pulses (for high-resolution neutron scattering) could be vastly increased. Carpenter's pioneering work in inventing the pulsed thermal neutron source (ZING-P at ANL) and a myriad of instrumentation designed for such a source resulted in the construction of a new generation of neutron sources.
Carpenter earned his PhD degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Nuclear Society, Neutron Scattering Society of America (which also awarded Carpenter its highest honor-the Cliff Shull Prize), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He continues to lecture and is actively involved in commissioning the ultra-small-angle-scattering instrument at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
About the Materials Research Society
MRS is an organization of over 12,000 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.
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