Awards and Accolades News

  • Jun 29
    2021
    Professor Steven DenBaars of Materials and of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been chosen by the American Association for Advances in Functional Materials (AAFM) as one of two recipients of its 2021 AAFM-Nakamura Award. Named for Nobel Prize winner Shuji Nakamura, also a UCSB professor, the award recognizes “an outstanding scientist in the field of functional... read more »
  • Jun 11
    2021
    Professor John Harter receives a 2021-2022 Hellman Family Faculty Fellowship. "The purpose of the Hellman Fellows program is to provide substantial support for the research of promising assistant professors who have served at least two years at the assistant professor level, and who show capacity for great distinction in their research. John’s proposal is titled “... read more »
  • May 11
    2021
    Prof. Steve DenBaars received the 2021 Quantum Devices Award of the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors.  He was cited "For the development and commercialization of non-polar and semi-polar quantum well laser diodes in laser lighting, automotive and general illumination”   The Quantum Devices Award was established in 2000 by Fujitsu Quantum Devices, Ltd  ... read more »
  • May 11
    2021
    Prof. John Bowers received the 2021 International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials (IPRM) Award. He was cited "For contribution to the development of III-V/Si photonics and heterogeneous integration techniques with the pioneering demonstration of hybrid indium phosphide/Si laser."   The IPRM Award recognizes individuals who have made "outstanding... read more »
  • Apr 7
    2021
    We are delighted to announce that Professor Frank Zok has received the UCSB Faculty Senate Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award for 2020-21. This award recognizes sustained and exemplary contributions in mentoring graduate students, both during their time at UCSB as well as in their subsequent careers. Prof. Zok has been at UCSB for 31 years acting as principal advisor to 30... read more »
  • Mar 23
    2021
    Professor Irene Beyerlein of the Materials Department and the Mechanical Engineering Department has been named a Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS), a distinction that “recognizes outstanding contributions to the field, including research, leadership, and service that have advanced the mission of the materials community world-wide.” Congratulations Irene... read more »
  • Feb 26
    2021
    Steven DenBaars and Shuji Nakamura, UC Santa Barbara professors of materials and of electrical and computer engineering, have been selected as this year’s recipients of the Spirit of Innovation award, a business community celebration of local inventors, their accomplishments and entrepreneurship. “It really is an honor to recognize Shuji Nakamura and Steve DenBaars,” said... read more »
  • Feb 9
    2021
    Two UC Santa Barbara engineers are among the 129 new members worldwide elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for 2021. Materials and chemistry professor Craig Hawker and Rachel Segalman, chair of the Chemical Engineering Department, join the 106 American and 23 foreign engineers honored this year. Election to the NAE is... read more »
  • Feb 1
    2021
    A Richness of Consequences It’s the late 1980s and Shuji Nakamura(link is external) is on to something. Working in a corporate lab, the Japanese engineer is convinced that if the conditions were just right in his metal organic chemical vapor deposition machine, he might be able to grow the high-quality gallium nitride (GaN) crystals that could make possible the highly... read more »
  • Jan 11
    2021
    Professor Anton Van der Ven has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the TMS William Hume-Rothery Award. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) presents the award to one person per year to honor exceptional contributions to the science of alloys.  It is considered a pinnacle award of TMS.   Professor Van der Ven was cited for "distinguished contributions to... read more »
  • Nov 24
    2020
    Professor Michael Chabinyc, Chair of UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Department, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. This year, AAAS members selected 489 fellows from around the world for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its... read more »
  • Nov 18
    2020
    Three Materials Faculty among World’s Most Influential Scientists John Bowers, Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger, and Chris Van de Walle, three materials professors in UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering, are among the most influential scientists in the world, according to the 2020 Highly Cited Researchers List released by the Web of Science Group, a Clarivate Analytics... read more »
  • Aug 17
    2020
    Professor Craig Hawker receives the 2021 Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success, a national award of the American Chemical Society. The citation for the award is: "In recognition of Dr. Hawker's innovative leadership in creating, developing, and commercializing revolutionary polymer-based therapeutics and personal care products through multiple successful start... read more »
  • Jun 22
    2020
    For UC Santa Barbara materials scientist Omar Saleh and synthetic biologist Enoch Yeung, there is no machine or material more inspiring and innovative than living tissue, no process more fascinating than life. “The most biologically important thing that happens in the cell’s nucleus is that there are genes, the genes get read and turned into proteins and you get all of... read more »
  • Jun 15
    2020
     Mayela Aldaz Cervantes receives the University Award of Distinction this spring. The award recognizes students who have contributed greatly to the quality of life by providing unselfish service to others within a particular area.    Advised by Mehrabian Distinguished Professor of Materials Carlos G. Levi, Aldaz Cervantes is a PhD candidate in the Materials Department.... read more »
  • May 19
    2020
    Professor Frank Zok will receive the 2020 Nadai Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He was selected for the Medal, “for advancing the understanding of the design and performance of structural materials, including ceramic and metal composites as well as lattice materials, through the development of novel test protocols, theoretical and... read more »
  • Jan 22
    2020
    For “pioneering discoveries, synthesis and commercial development of Gallium nitride LEDs and their use in sustainable solid-state light sources, which are reducing global greenhouse gas emissions while also reducing costs to those adopting this technology,” Nakamura has been selected to receive the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 2020 Award for the Industrial... read more »
  • Jan 1
    2020
    UCSB Materials Department Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of the Materials Research Laboratory Tony Cheetham has been conferred as a Knights Bachelor of the Great Britain. The honor of knighthood of the United Kingdom comes from the days of medieval chivalry and is conferred by accolade from the sovereign. The honor of knighthood is given for a pre-eminent... read more »
  • Dec 16
    2019
    Professor Shuji Nakamura has been selected to receive the 2019 Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy. The biennial award, bestowed by the University of Louisville (UofL), is meant to to “acknowledge, publicize and disseminate outstanding ideas and achievements in research related to the sciences, engineering, technology and commercialization of renewable energy.” “It... read more »
  • Dec 4
    2019
    UCSB Materials Department Professor Michael Chabinyc has been elected as fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Michael is among the 168 prolific academic innovators from around the world to earn fellow status for 2019. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding... read more »
  • Nov 26
    2019
    Professor Emeritus and Research Professor Bob Odette elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is recognized “For outstanding contributions to understanding and predicting the microstructural evolution and mechanical property changes of structural materials in challenging nuclear, chemical, and thermal environments”. Odette’s interests... read more »
  • Nov 21
    2019
    Seventeen UC Santa Barbara researchers have been named among the most influential scientists in the world, according to the 2019 Highly Cited Researchers released by Clarivative Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters). The annual list recognizes researchers in the sciences and social sciences who produced multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and... read more »
  • Sep 30
    2019
    Professor Shuji Nakamura among the newest fellows of U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering UC Santa Barbara professor and Nobel Laureate Shuji Nakamura is adding yet another accolade to his long list of honors: election to the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is one of only four International Fellows selected by the United Kingdom’s national academy of engineering for 2019... read more »
  • Sep 24
    2019
    University  of  California,  Santa  Barbara  graduate  student  awarded  Department  of  Energy      fellowship Lauren Smith, a doctoral student in Materials Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been awarded a Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE NNSA SSGF) to support her research... read more »
  • Sep 20
    2019
    Two UCSB Materials Department faculty members have been named Fellows of the American Physical Society (APS) for 2019. Prof. Omar Saleh, Professor of Materials and Biomolecular Science and Engineering was selected by the Division of Biological Physics “for outstanding contributions to single-molecule biophysics, including development of magnetic tweezer instrumentation... read more »