Marks and Stupp Elected Fellows of Materials Research Society

March 12, 2009

Two Northwestern University faculty members have been named fellows of the Materials Research Society (MRS), a highly selective honor.

Tobin J. Marks was recognized for demonstrating new scientific principles affecting a wide range of significant areas. He is Vladimir N. Ipatieff Research Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Samuel I. Stupp was recognized for his leadership in supramolecular materials chemistry. He is Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry and Medicine.

MRS fellows are outstanding members of the society whose sustained and distinguished contributions to the advancement of materials research are internationally recognized. The maximum number of new fellow appointments each year is limited to 0.2 percent of the current MRS membership.

Marks and Stupp, along with 31 other new fellows, will be honored April 15 at the 2009 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco.

Marks’ citation reads: “By elegantly demonstrating new scientific principles, Tobin Marks’ broad, highly original research in areas from self-assembled opto-electronic materials to catalytic polymer synthesis, has permanently influenced contemporary materials science.”

Marks has developed processes for numerous types of recyclable, environmentally friendly plastics, efficient organic displays and transistor circuitry, and organic solar energy cells. He designed a co-catalyst that led to what is now a standard process for producing better polyolefins, including polyethylene and polypropylene. He has developed a prototype of third-generation photovoltaic solar cells; new materials for sensors and light modulators enabling high-speed optical data transmission and processing; high-performance transistors; and light-emitting diodes based on organic materials (OLEDs).

Recent honors include the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific Research; the U.S. National Medal of Science; the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal; the Cotton Medal from the Texas Section of the American Chemical Society; the John C. Bailar Medal from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the Centenary and Sir Edward Frankland Prizes of the British Royal Society of Chemistry; the American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in Inorganic Chemistry; and the Karl Ziegler Prize of the German Chemical Society.

Marks was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Leopoldina (the German National Academy of Sciences) and as a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Chemistry and an Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Research Society of India.

Stupp is cited for “internationally recognized leadership in supramolecular materials chemistry, in particular, the synthesis of novel functional molecular objects; and for pioneering contributions in the field of self-assembling bioactive and hybrid materials.”

Stupp, who is director of Northwestern’s Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine, wants to obtain a better understanding of the relationship between supramolecular structures on the nanoscale and the functions of materials. His research has focused on molecular self-assembly strategies to create highly functional materials of interest in widely varying fields, ranging from regenerative medicine to electronics.

Stupp has developed novel materials to promote regeneration in the central nervous system, which could impact therapies for spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease. He also has developed new materials for the regeneration of bone, cartilage and blood vessels. Other work includes the use of self-assembly to create electronically active materials, with a focus on energy technologies. Stupp recently reported developing self-assembling hybrid materials with photoconductive gains comparable to amorphous silicon.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society, Stupp has received many awards and honors. They include a Department of Energy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Materials Chemistry; the American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry; the Materials Research Society Medal; and the Humboldt Award for Senior U.S. Scientists. In 2005 Scientific American named Stupp as one of 50 “Leaders Shaping the Future of Technology.” This year he will receive an honorary doctorate from Eindhoven University in the Netherlands for his pioneering research on complex molecular materials.

Northwestern’s Robert P.H. Chang, professor of materials science and engineering, and Manijeh Razeghi, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, were honored last year as members of the inaugural class of MRS fellows.

- Megan Fellman