PEOPLE & PLACES UPDATE

December 2003 63

New faculty appointments

The Pennsylvania State University

has announced a number of new

faculty members. Melik C. Demirel,

Jong-in Hahm, and Aman Haque

will be pursuing research in

nanomaterials, including

fabrication, tribology, and the

interface with biology; Ronald

Hedden will work on soft

condensed matter systems; while

Zhiwen Liu, Jian Xu, and Shizhuo

Yin are focusing their efforts on

various elements of optical and

optoelectronic phenomena.

NanoInk brings in experience

Cedric Loiret-Bernal is the new

president and chief executive

officer of NanoInk, Inc. He also

becomes a member of the

company’s board of directors.

Loiret-Bernal was formerly chief

executive officer and co-founder of

the proteomics company, GeneProt,

Inc. “He brings more than 17 years

of experience and in-depth

knowledge of business

development, strategic marketing,

and fund-raising,” says Mark Slezak,

chairman of NanoInk. The company

is commercializing dip pen

nanolithography techniques for

building nanoscale structures.

Yu wins laser prize

The 2003 Free Electron Laser (FEL)

Prize has been won by Li Hua Yu, a

physicist at Brookhaven National

Laboratory. Yu has developed two

types of lasers for experimental

investigations, the self-amplified

spontaneous emission FEL and the

high-gain harmonic generation FEL.

“I am very happy to receive this

award,” he says. “I am grateful to

the excellent team who worked

with me to make the high-gain

harmonic generation FEL at

Brookhaven the first and only one

of its kind in the world.”

NASA names GRC deputy director

Richard S. Christiansen is the new

deputy director of NASA’s Glenn

Research Center (GRC). He was

previously associate director of the

agency’s Dryden Flight Research

Center. “His strong technical and

management background will

enhance our microgravity,

propulsion, communications, and

technology programs,” says Julian

Earls, director of the GRC.

Society high-flyersExperimental and

theoretical research,

contributions to the

development of new

techniques, and

commercial leadership

are rewarded in the

American Physical

Society’s prizes and

awards for 2004.

James P. Wolfe

(shown), of the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wins the

Frank Isakson Prize. “I am elated,” says Wolfe. “The

award recognizes a progression of work elucidating

the motion and thermodynamics of elementary

excitations in solids.” His development of graphic

imaging techniques, in particular, made this

understanding possible.

Chia-Ling Chien of The Johns Hopkins University

receives the David Adler Lectureship Award for

‘path-breaking research in magnetic nanostructures’.

The Oliver E. Buckley Prize for contributions to the

theory of condensed matter systems is shared jointly

by Tom C. Lubensky of the University of Pennsylvania

and David R. Nelson of Harvard University.

In the polymer field, Timothy P. Lodge of the

University of Minnesota and Marcus Müller of

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Germany, win the

Polymer Prize and John H. Dillon Medal, respectively.

Contributions to surface enhanced Raman scattering

win Richard P. Van Duyne of Northwestern University

the Earl K. Plyler Prize. NanoDevices’ Virgil Elings

wins the Keithley Award for developing and

commercializing scanning probe microscopies.

National honor for GarwinRichard L. Garwin of the Council on Foreign Relations

in New York is to receive a US National Medal of

Science for his contributions to the invention of

magnetic resonance techniques used in medical

imaging applications. The medal, awarded by

President Bush, honors researchers who have made

groundbreaking and career-long achievements.

Garwin laid the foundations for superconducting

electronic circuitry. He is also an advisor to the US

government on a range of scientific issues, including

nuclear safety and arms control. He has worked on

and champions the use of nonlethal weapons in

combat.

Foresight awards Feynman prizesThe 2003 Feynman Prize for experimental research in

nanotechnology has been presented to Carlo

Montemagno of the University of California, Los

Angeles (UCLA). His work focuses on methods of

integrating single-molecular biological motors with

nanoscale Si devices. Montemagno is chair of

bioengineering and co-director of UCLA’s Institute for

Cell Mimetic Space Exploration.

The Feynman Prize for theoretical work goes to

Marvin L. Cohen and Steven G. Louie of the

University of California at Berkeley for their work on

understanding materials properties and behaviors.

The Foresight Institute awarded the prizes at its

annual conference on molecular nanotechnology.

Kwolek enters Hall of Fame Stephanie Kwolek, a scientist at DuPont, has been

inducted into the US National Women’s Hall of Fame

for research that lead to the manufacture of Kevlar®

aramid fiber. The Hall of Fame recognizes individuals

who have contributed achievements of enduring

value to society, as well as to their field of work.

It was Kwolek’s discoveries in the area of liquid

crystalline polymer solutions that formed the basis

for the commercial preparation of Kevlar. The high

strength of the material, combined with its light

weight, has lead to applications from body armor to

blast and flame barriers. “I am honored and, quite

frankly, humbled to be a part of the National

Women’s Hall of Fame,” says Kwolek.

ESF gets Marks for strategyJohn Marks has been appointed as director of science

and strategy at the European Science Foundation

(ESF). “I very much look forward to furthering the

vital importance of the ESF in fostering European

collaboration and excellence,” says Marks.

This comes at a time when a pan-European approach

to funding fundamental research is on the political

agenda. Marks believes the ESF should position itself

as the logical choice to play a central role in its

realization.

Marks has over 23 years of experience in science

policy and management. He previously managed a

budget of �30 million as director of earth and life

sciences for the Netherlands Organization for

Scientific Research (NWO). He has also served on the

science and policy directorate in the Netherlands’

Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.

Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to materialstoday@elsevier.com