WARRENDALE, PA—The Materials Research Society’s (MRS) Innovation in Materials Characterization Award, endowed by Toh-Ming Lu and Gwo-Ching Wang, honors outstanding advances in materials characterization that notably increase 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 Niels de Jonge, INM–Leibniz Institute for New Materials; Frances M. Ross, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center; and Chongmin Wang, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory "for seminal contributions to the imaging of specimens in liquids using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), revolutionizing the direct observation of materials processes, batteries during operation, and biological structures.
They will be recognized at the 2016 MRS Spring Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday, March 31, where they will receive their Award and present their award talk, Transmission Electron Microscopy of Specimens and Processes in Liquid.
Each recipient has revolutionized experimental techniques for the observation of liquid-based samples and processes that improve the understanding of material fabrication, electrochemical cell functionality, and biological cells in their native environment. The work of Ross, Wang, and de Jonge has allowed both open and closed cell liquid microscopy to be realized. Their practical implementation of techniques for imaging liquids using TEM has created a new area of opportunity for others. The ability to achieve high spatial and temporal resolution when studying processes in liquids has provided unique insight into electrochemical deposition, corrosion, and battery operation, while imaging biological materials in their native environment has provided new information on whole cell structure, viruses, and macromolecular assemblies.
About Niels de Jonge
De Jonge is a senior group leader in innovative electron microscopy at the INM–Leibniz Institute for New Materials and Honorary Professor of Experimental Physics at Saarland University. He received his PhD degree in natural sciences (with a specialization in biophysics) from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg and a master’s degree in experimental physics from the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the development and application of electron microscopy of specimens in liquid, with an emphasis on biophysics and biomedical sciences. He was awarded the Innovation Award of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2007, and the Esprit de Corps community service category award at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2008. He has published 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, 18 book chapters, and presented 73 invited lectures.
About Frances M. Ross
Ross received her BA degree in physics and PhD degree in materials science from the University of Cambridge. She was a postdoctoral researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories, using in situ electron microscopy to study the oxidation of Si and dislocations in SiGe. She later joined IBM, building a program around a TEM equipped with in situ chemical vapor deposition, evaporation, and focused ion-beam capabilities and a UHV mass-filtered FIB/STM system. She has been a visiting scientist at Lund University and an adjunct professor at Arizona State University. She has received the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award, UK Institute of Physics Charles Vernon Boys Medal, and MSA Burton Medal. She is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society, American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Microscopy Society of America, and American Vacuum Society. She is a co-author of more than 130 journal articles and 7 patents, and has given more than 100 invited and plenary conference talks.
About Chongmin Wang
Wang is a staff scientist in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. He received his BSc and MSc degrees in physics from Lanzhou University and his PhD degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Leeds. He was the recipient of the Microscopy Today Innovation Award, the R&D 100 Award, the Rowland Snow Award from The American Ceramic Society, the PNNL Exceptional Contribution Award, the PNNL Pathway to Excellence Award (2013), and the Outstanding Invention Award from the Japanese Science and Education Committee. His research interests focus on the application of state-of-the-art S/TEM and spectroscopy techniques to materials characterization at high spatial resolution, especially in situ TEM techniques for energy materials. He has published 280 journal articles, authored 7 book chapters, and has given more than 50 invited and plenary conference talks.
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.
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