Symposium X—MRS/The Kavli Foundation Frontiers of Materials—50 Years of Materials Research

Tuesday, April 11
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
InterContinental, Third Floor, Grand Ballroom

50 Years of Materials Research

This special Symposium X session will feature MRS presidents and journal editors—past and present—as they share their perspectives on the most transformative materials advances from the last 50 years and how materials science will evolve over the next 50 years.

Panel

Rigoberto Advincula
 Oak Ridge National Laboratory | The University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

Rigoberto Advincula is a Governor’s Chair Professor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and University of Tennessee, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Advincula is also a Group Leader at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), ORNL. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Polymer Science and Engineering Division (ACS), Polymer Chemistry Division (ACS), and of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He received the distinguished Herman Mark Scholar Award in 2013. In 2018, he was elected National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Philippines. In 2022, Advincula received the Lifetime Distinguished Accomplishment Award from the University of the Philippines. He was appointed to the World Economic Forum, Advanced Materials Council. He is Editor-in-Chief of MRS Communications and was formerly Editor of Reactive and Functional Polymers. He has held several visiting professor positions, including Waseda University in Japan and the Max Planck Institute for Polymers Research in Germany. His group researches polymer materials, nanocomposites, colloidal science, 3D printing, hybrid materials, and ultrathin films for applications from smart coatings to biomedical devices. Advincula is passionate in mentoring students and helping other countries in their STEM programs.

Peter F. Green
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Peter Green is the deputy laboratory director for Science and Technology and the chief research officer for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Prior to his appointment at NREL, he spent a decade at Sandia National Laboratories and subsequently 20 years in academia. He was professor of chemical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and  became professor and chair of the department of materials science and engineering (MSE), with an appointment as professor of chemical engineering, at the University of Michigan. Green served as President of the Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2016. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2023. Green is Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Association of Arts and Science, and of the Society. He is a recipient of the United States Department of Energy Secretary’s Achievement Award in 2020 and in 2022. Green earned his PhD degree in MSE from Cornell University.

Julia M. Phillips
Sandia National Laboratories (retired)

Julia M. Phillips spent 20 years at Sandia National Laboratories, leading a variety of materials organizations and ultimately serving as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Earlier, she spent 14 years at AT&T Bell Laboratories where she performed leading edge research in thin film epitaxial electronic materials and complex oxides. Phillips is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the American Physical Society (APS). She also served as President of the MRS. She received the George E. Pake Prize from APS “for her leadership and pioneering research in materials physics for industrial and national security applications.” Her current professional engagements include serving as a Presidential-appointed member of the National Science Board and chair of the National Academies Committee on Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Susan Trolier-McKinstry
The Pennsylvania State University

Susan Trolier-McKinstry is an Evan Pugh University Professor and Steward S. Flaschen Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering. Her main research interests include thin films for dielectric and piezoelectric applications. She directs both the Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics and the Center for Three-Dimensional Ferroelectric Microelectronics. Trolier-McKinstry is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Materials Research Society, is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and an academician of the World Academy of Ceramics. She currently serves as an associate editor for Applied Physics Letters. She was 2017 President of the Materials Research Society; previously she served as president of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, as well as Keramos.