Mark Hersam Receives Outstanding Young Investigator Award

Northwestern University's Mark Hersam has been selected to receive the Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the Materials Research Society (MRS). The award will be presented in April during the 2010 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco.

Hersam is professor of materials science and engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

The award recognizes outstanding, interdisciplinary scientific work in materials research by a young scientist or engineer. The award recipient must also show exceptional promise as a developing leader in the materials area.

Hersam's citation states that he is being honored for "pioneering research on the physics, chemistry, and engineering of nanoelectronic materials and devices, including solution phase techniques for sorting carbon nanotubes and graphene, and for organic functionalization and nanopatterning of semiconductor surfaces."

Hersam and his research group apply the fundamental paradigm of materials science and engineering to hybrid materials at the nanometer level. The research has far-reaching impact in fields such as information technology, biotechnology and alternative energy.

Hersam's award marks the third time a Northwestern professor has won the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award. Teri Odom, associate professor of chemistry and Dow Chemical Company Research Professor, was honored with the award last year, and Chad Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, was honored in 1999.