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The IEEE Nanotechnology Council 2016 Awards Ceremony was held in conjunction with the IEEE NANO 2016 banquet in Sendai, Japan on August 24.
The Pioneer award in Nanotechnology recipient is Shawn-Yu Lin, Professor of Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. The Early Career Award in Nanotechnology co-recipients are, from academia, Prof. Tak Sing Wong, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University, and from government, Jin-Woo Han, Research Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, Calif. The Distinguished Service Award recipient is Edward G. Perkins, consultant, Tualatin (Portland metro area), Ore.
NTC Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology
The NTC Pioneer Award in nanotechnology is to recognize individuals who by virtue of initiating new areas of research, development or engineering have had a significant impact on the field of nanotechnology. The award is intended for people who are in the mid or late portions of their careers, i.e., at least 10 years beyond his or her highest earned academic degree on the nomination deadline date.
The 2016 recipient of the IEEE NTC Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology is Shawn-Yu Lin, who is a Professor of Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His award citation states: “For pioneering contribution to the development of 3D optical photonic-crystals and the discovery of the darkest nano-material on earth”.
Professor Lin developed a carbon nanotube forest that absorbs 99.97 percent of incident light, a Guinness world record and a major advance in stealth technology. Professor Lin is also widely known for developing the world’s first large-scale, three dimensional photonic crystal to exhibit a complete photonic bandgap. Professor Lin is the recipient of a R&D 100 Award, and he is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He has received research funding from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the Focus Center-New York for Interconnects. His current work with 3-D photonic crystals is funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.
Lin received his bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University, his master’s degree from the University of North Carolina, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton. Before joining Rensselaer, Lin headed Sandia National Laboratories’ multimillion-dollar research and development effort in photonic crystal devices. He also directed a U.S. Department of Energy multi-laboratories initiative in nano-structural photonics.
NTC Early Career Award in Nanotechnology
The NTC Early Career Award in nanotechnology is to recognize individuals who have made contributions with major impact on the field of nanotechnology. Up to two awards may be given per year. There may be one award for academics (persons employed by colleges or universities) and one for persons employed by industry or government organizations.
The 2016 academic co-recipient of the IEEE NTC Early Career Award in Nanotechnology is Tak-Sing Wong, who is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. His award citation states: “For significant contributions to the field of biologically inspired surface nanoengineering”.
Professor Wong is well known for his theoretical and experimental contributions to the area of superhydrophobic surfaces, including the derivation of a governing equation referred to as the Wong-Ho equation, and the invention and development of Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS), which redefines the concept of lotus-leave inspired liquid-repellent coatings. Professor Wong has been selected to MIT’s TR35 list for innovators under the age of 35, he has received a DARPA Young Faculty Award, a NSF CAREER Award, and a R&D 100 Award.
Wong is currently an Assistant Professor and the holder of Wormley Family Early Career Professorship in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Wong conducted his postdoctoral research at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University from 2010 – 2012. He received his Ph.D. degree in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA in 2009, following his B.Eng. degree in Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Dr. Wong’s research focuses on micro/nanoengineering, interfacial phenomena, and biologically inspired engineering with applications in materials science, water, health, and energy. His research has collectively led to 3 granted U.S. patents (with 8 pending) and >25 peer-reviewed publications.
The 2016 government co-recipient of the IEEE NTC Early Career Award in Nanotechnology is Jin-Woo Han, who is a Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. His award citation states: “For innovative contributions to the development of nanoelectronics, devices, and nanosensors”.
Dr. Han is known for developing CMOS compatible nanoscale vacuum tube transistors showing ~0.5 THz intrinsic performance, flexible memory and transistors for electronic textiles, gas/vapor sensors on cellulose paper, and a novel radiation sensor using a nanogap transistor with a liquid gel dielectric.
Han received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from KAIST in South Korea. His research interests include development of novel electronic devices and sensors. He has received many awards for his work including the 2016 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the Mike Sargeant Career Achievement Award, a NASA Ames Honor Award, the IEEE Electron Device Society Early Career Award and Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award from the Engineers Council.
Distinguished Service Award
The Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual who has performed outstanding service for the benefit and advancement of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council.
The 2016 recipient of the IEEE NTC Distinguished Service Award in Nanotechnology is Edward G. Perkins, who works with Quality Plus Engineering in Portland, Oregon. His award citation states: “For excellence as the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Secretary and outstanding contributions to the Council’s conference activities”.
Ed Perkins has played a significant role in organizing IEEE NTC conferences and he has designed and implemented new capabilities for NTC internal functions. He has developed listservs and numerous tools for internal NTC activities, and he has developed websites and electronic notification tools to keep the nanotechnology community aware of IEEE NTC activities. Mr. Perkins is a Life Senior Member of the IEEE.
Ed consults in enterprise risk management; performance and risk auditing; IT Governance; process automation; project management; and holds the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Enterprise Risk Manager® designations. He is developing a certificate program in cybersecurity based on the NIST Risk Management Framework. Ed has over 30 years industry experience, in computer operations, operating systems, embedded systems, software development , chip architecture development, design automation, program and project management, design services management, technical writing, and internal auditing. He has managed high visibility / high risk IT programs, and led cross-functional teams and industry work groups. He volunteers with the IEEE, having served both locally as Oregon Section Chair, on the IEEE Board of Directors as Western US Region Director and chair of the IEEE Audit Committee, as Secretary of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council, and as VP of Professional Activities for the IEEE-USA. Ed has a BS EE and MS CS from WPI, and an MS ECE from Portland State University.