The Materials Research Society (MRS) has awarded John A. Rogers, director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) the 2013 Mid-Career Researcher Award “for fundamental and applied contributions to materials, mechanics designs, and assembly techniques for stretchable/flexible electronic systems.” Rogers was recognized during the award presentations at the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting on Wednesday, April 3. The MRS Mid-Career Researcher Award, endowed by Aldrich Materials Science, recognizes exceptional achievements in materials research made by mid-career professionals.
“Aldrich is pleased to support the materials research community through our participation in the Mid-Career Researcher Award. Professor Rogers’ achievements are a notable and inspiring example of how fundamental and applied research can deliver exciting new technologies for the real world,” remarked Bryce P. Nelson, Initiative Lead for Aldrich Materials Science.
Rogers, who holds the Swanlund Chair at UIUC with a primary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, changed the way researchers think about the possibilities in the field of flexible/stretchable electronics. In particular, he established comprehensive routes to semiconductor devices and integrated systems that offer the operational performance of conventional, wafer-based technologies, but with the ability to bend, fold, twist, stretch, and wrap complex, curvilinear, and time-dynamic surfaces in ways that would otherwise be impossible.
By pioneering the use of assemblies of semiconductor nanostructures, Rogers enabled semiconductor devices to be formed on amorphous, low-temperature substrates with performance that is superior, by several orders of magnitude, to that possible with alternative materials. The materials he used range from nanomembranes/ribbons of monocrystalline silicon and gallium arsenide to arrays/networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes as effective thin films for high-performance electronic devices.
Rogers obtained his BA and BS degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. From MIT, he received SM degrees in physics and in chemistry and a PhD in physical chemistry. He has published nearly 400 papers and holds over 80 patents. Rogers is a Fellow of MRS, IEEE, APS, and AAAS, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His research has been recognized with many awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2009 and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2011.
