Materials Theory Award

Materials Theory Award Recipients

• Jean-Luc Bredas, The University of Arizona (2020)

  “for seminal theoretical contributions to the design and understanding of novel molecules and materials in thefields of organic electronics and photonics"

  Jean-Luc Brédas is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arizona. He received his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Namur, Belgium. In 1988, he was appointed Professor at University of Mons, Belgium, where he established the Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials. He joined Arizona in 1999 before moving to Georgia Tech in 2003, where he became Regents’ Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and held the Vasser-Woolley and Georgia Research Alliance Chair in Molecular Design until 2019. Between 2014 and 2016, he joined KAUST as a Distnguished Professor. He returned to Georgia Tech in 2017 and moved back to Arizona in 2020. Jean-Luc Brédas is an elected Member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, the Royal Academy of Belgium, and the European Academy of Sciences.

  
  
• Lu Sham, University of California, San Diego (2019)
  “for pioneering contributions to the quantum theory of molecules and solids, especially the Kohn–Sham formulation of density functional theory "
  
  Lu Sham, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego, is a condensed matter theorist, working on many electron and phonon properties and quantum optical processes in semiconductor nanostructures and ferromagnets. An early practitioner of first-principle computations of lattice vibration spectra and the density functional theory, his recent interest is motivated by quantum information and spintronics. He enjoys collaboration with experimentalists. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica, ROC, and a fellow of APS, Optical Society of America, and AAAS. He served as a chair of the Semiconductor Commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and a member of the Council and of the Executive Board of the American Physical Society and of the Executive Committee of its Division of Condensed Matter Physics. He was born in Hong Kong and is a graduate of Puiching Middle School, Imperial College, London, and Cambridge.
  
  
• Giulia Galli, The University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory (2018)

  “For the development of advanced first-principles simulation methods and their application to the understanding, prediction and design of complex nanostructured materials "
  

    

   

  
  
• Glenn H. Fredrickson, University of California, Santa Barbara (2017)

  “For pioneering the development of field-theoretic computer simulation methods and their application to investigate and design self-assembling polymers and soft materials"
  

   

  
  

  
  
• Gerbrand Ceder, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2016)

  
  “For seminal contributions to the emerging field of computationally guided materials exploiting high-throughput computation and promoting the development of open databases to enable widespread use."
  

   

  
  
• Steven G. Louie, University of California, Berkeley (2015)

  "For his seminal contributions to the development of ab initio methods for and the elucidation of many-electron effects in electronic excitations and optical properties of solids and nanostructures."
  

   

   

  
  
• Long-Qing Chen, The Pennsylvania State University (2014)
  
  "For his pioneering work in the development of phase-field method and its applications in the computational modeling of mesoscale structures and their dynamics in inhomogeneous materials."
  
  

  
  
• David J. Srolovitz, University of Pennsylvania (2013)
  

  "For decisive and highly influential contributions to the theory and simulation of microstructure, morphological evolution, mechanical behavior, and the structure and dynamics of interfaces." 

   

    

  
  
• John P. Perdew, Tulane University (2012)

  "For his pioneering contributions to the fundamental development and nonempirical approximations in density functional theory."

   

  
  

  
  
• Alex Zunger, University of Colorado, Boulder (2011)

  "For his development of the inverse band structure approach to materials by design and the foundational developments of methods of first-principles theory of solids, leading to innovative and transformative studies of renewable-energy materials and nanostructures."