Jeffrey Richards Wins Arthur B. Metzner Early Career Award

Northwestern Engineering’s Jeffrey Richards has won the Arthur B. Metzner Early Career Award from the Society of Rheology. 

The award honors researchers who have distinguished themselves in rheological research, rheological practice, or service to rheology before their 12th year after their final academic degree. Rheology is the study of how materials deform and flow in response to applied forces.

Richards was cited for “fundamental contributions to the development of rheo-electric measurements and their application to the study of electrically active soft matter.”

"I am honored to be recognized by the Society of Rheology and feel deeply appreciative to the community and mentors who have taught me so much over the years,” Richards said.

An associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering, Richards studies how the microscopic structure of multicomponent soft materials influences their macroscopic properties. By understanding these relationships, his lab aims to develop new materials that improve the generation, storage, and transport of electrical charge and energy for emerging renewable-energy technologies.

Formed in 1929, the Society of Rheology’s membership represents a wide spectrum of individuals from academic, industrial, and governmental institutions whose activities include both phenomenological and molecular theories, instrumentation, the study of many types of materials such as polymers, metals, petroleum products, rubber, paint, printing ink, ceramics and glass, foods, biological materials, floor preparations and cosmetics, and a wide range of practical applications.