Chad Mirkin Elected to National Academy of Engineering

February 6, 2009

Chad Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and professor of medicine, chemical and biological engineering, biomedical engineering, and materials science and engineering, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is cited for development of DNA programmable inorganic materials and Dip-Pen nanolithography.

Mirkin is world-renowned for his invention and development of biological and chemical diagnostic systems based upon nanomaterials. In addition, he is the inventor and chief developer of Dip-Pen Nanolithography, a groundbreaking nanoscale fabrication and analytical tool, and is the founder of Nanosphere and NanoInk, two Chicago-based companies.

He has been recognized with more than 50 national and international awards for his research and advances. He recently received the Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest from the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, which recognizes a chemist whose scientific and technical work has contributed to the public well-being and has thereby communicated positive values of the chemical profession, and the Havinga Medal, which is given to an outstanding chemist every other year by the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Mirkin’s other major awards and honors include being named an inaugural fellow in the U.S. Department of Defense's National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows Program; the NIH Director's Pioneer Award; the Inorganic Nanoscience Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS); the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences; the ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award; Discover 2000 Innovation of the Year Award; the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology; and the Leo Hendrick Baekeland Award.

He is the author or coauthor of more than 360 refereed publications and 350 patents (81 issued). He serves or has served on the editorial advisory board of more than 22 chemistry journals and is founding editor of Small, one of the premier international journals of nanotechnology.

Photo courtesy of Evanston Photographic Studio.