Alumni
Learn more about the Department of Materials Science and Engineering's alumni activities.
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Alumni Awards
MSE Awards Banquet
The MSE Awards Banquet at the Hilton Orrington Hotel celebrates accomplishments by faculty, students, and alumni. For inquiries about past and future events, please contact MSE staff.
To view photos from past alumni celebrations, click here.
For highlights from the MSE Department 60th Reunion in 2018, please click here.
Award Recipients
Each year the Department of Materials Science and Engineering recognizes outstanding alumni at the MSE Awards Banquet in May. Past recipients of the Early Career Achievement Award (within 15 years of NU degree) and the Distinguished Career Achievement Award are found here. See below for the most recent awardees:
May 2023
Distinguished Career Achievement Award
“Grace” Jinliu Wang, President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (PhD Chung, 2001).
Grace Wang, PhD, a highly accomplished materials scientist and engineer as well as a respected educational leader, began as WPI’s 17th president on April 3, 2023. Known as a collaborative leader in higher education, government, and industry, Wang has excelled at building collective vision, delivering impacts, and fostering partnerships to advance education, research, and innovation.
In 2022, Wang was appointed by the White House to serve on the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. She is a council member of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She is also a member of the Board of Governors for the New York Academy of Sciences and holds 7 US patents.
Grace received her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University, and has worked at IBM, NSF, SUNY and most recently The Ohio State University as executive vice president for research, innovation, and knowledge.
Early Career Achievement Award
Professor Jin Suntivich, Cornell University (BS, 2006).
Professor Jin Suntivich is an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. He obtained his undergraduate degrees in Materials Science and Engineering and Integrated Science from Northwestern University, followed by a doctoral degree in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, Jin embarked on his independent career as an assistant professor at Cornell. During this time, he has dedicated his efforts to comprehending the fundamental mechanisms of electrocatalysis and exploring the intricate structure-property relationship at solid-liquid interfaces. His research interest spans a range of topics, including the measurement of surface thermochemistry, the development of in-situ tools for probing bond-forming events, and identifying mechanism-driven strategies for designing materials for energy and separation applications. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2020.
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