Awards and Accolades News

  • Mar 7
    2024
    UC Santa Barbara materials professor Tresa Pollock has been honored by her peers with the 2024 William D. Nix Award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), a testament to her impact on materials, on graduate students as an advisor, and on junior professionals in the field as a mentor. The prestigious annual award recognizes an individual whose work has... read more »
  • Feb 6
    2024
    Congratulations Professor Irene Beyerlein, Mehrabian Interdisciplinary Professor in the College of Engineering, for election to the National Academy of Engineering 2024 Class.  Here is the citation:   Beyerlein, Irene J., Mehrabian Interdisciplinary Professor, College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara. For methodologies predicting the mechanics of... read more »
  • Feb 6
    2024
    Materials faculty members Raphaële Clemént, Tresa Pollock, Angela Pitenis, Ananya Renuka Balakrishna, and Sriram Krishnamoorthy have received major instrumentation awards from the NSF, to continue maintaining and improving our world-class facilities. See the full story here. 
  • Dec 14
    2023
    Professor Shuji Nakamura has received the 2023 LpS Digital Achievement Award from the LED professional Symposium, a large industrial consortium that supports LED research and applications. Prof. Nakamura was specifically recognized for "His impactful contributions to the energy and lighting sectors, his dedication to global sustainability, and his support for ongoing... read more »
  • Nov 28
    2023
    UCSB Materials Professor Chris Van de Walle has been awarded the 2023 Materials Theory Award from the Materials Research Society (MRS). The MRS is the leading professional society dedicated to advancing materials science. The society gives a single Theory Award each year, in recognition of “exceptional advances made by materials theory to the fundamental understanding of... read more »
  • Jun 30
    2023
    UCSB Materials Professor Raphaële Clément has been awarded the 2023 Materials Today Rising Star Award and the ISE Prize for Electrochemical Materials Science. The MT energy Rising Star Award is awarded in recognition of the contributions of an early career scientist in energy materials. Professor Clément's contributions to the materials community by way of research and... read more »
  • Jun 30
    2023
    UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) has received its seventh consecutive major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund six years of operation as an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). Widely regarded as one of the top five materials research facilities in the world, the MRL, which obtained its first MRSEC... read more »
  • Jun 12
    2023
    Robert McMeeking is a world-leading Scientist in the field of the Mechanics of Materials. He has made seminal contributions ranging from finite strain plasticity theory and its computational implementation within finite element codes to the coupling of solid mechanics and other physics in order to address a wide range of problems in engineering science. His work bridges... read more »
  • May 9
    2023
    Tresa Pollock, interim dean of UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering, has been recognized by her peers with the 2023 Acta Materialia Gold Medal, a top honor bestowed in recognition of the significant and lasting impact of her materials research and leadership in the field. Pollock, the Alcoa Distinguished Professor of Materials, is the first woman in the 50-year... read more »
  • May 2
    2023
    After decades nurturing future leaders in science and engineering, in 2010, Fiona Goodchild founded the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP) at UC Santa Barbara. The center in 2022 announced a new mentor leadership program and now, its first graduate fellow, Allison Chau, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Materials Department.   “A mentor opens... read more »
  • Feb 1
    2023
    Congratulations to Professor Chris Palmstrøm on his election to the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the pinnacles of the profession. His indispensable expertise in using molecular beam epitaxy to control the growth and the interface structure and chemistry of dissimilar materials has led to the creation of many novel materials... read more »
  • Dec 12
    2022
      UCSB College of Engineering professor Steven DenBaars is among the 109 members from 24 countries who have been elected to the 2023 Fellow Class of Optica, the Society Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, formerly known as the Optical Society (OSA). Fellows are selected based on several factors, including outstanding contributions to business, education, research,... read more »
  • Nov 1
    2022
    Two materials PhD students, Saurav Roy and Kira Wyckoff, have received Excellence in Research Graduate Fellowships from UC Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE), the College of Engineering’s interdisciplinary research center dedicated to cutting-edge science and technologies that support a more efficient and sustainable future. The award provides $22,500... read more »
  • Jul 20
    2022
    Chris Van de Walle, a distinguished professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Department, has received a 2022 Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF) from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), one of only nine such fellowships awarded this year. The five-year fellowship, considered the DoD’s most prestigious single-investigator award, is aimed at advancing transformative... read more »
  • Jun 22
    2022
    Rachel Segalman, professor and chair of UC Santa Barbara’s Chemical Engineering Department, recently received a memorable phone call. The caller identification on her cellular phone read “DOE,” standing for the Department of Energy, which piqued the interest and nerves of the Edward Noble Kramer Professor. “I answered the call with trepidation, because I had a DOE... read more »
  • May 3
    2022
    National Academy of Sciences Elects Members and International Members WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Sciences announced today the election of 120 members and 30 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Those elected today bring the total number of active members to 2,512 and the total number of... read more »
  • Apr 18
    2022
    In its new ranking of leading graduate and professional programs at American universities, U.S. News & World Report magazine has rated two of UC Santa Barbara’s programs among the top 10 in the nation. In the 2023 U.S. News list of “Best Graduate Schools,” UC Santa Barbara’s materials program is ranked No. 2 among public institutions and No. 5 overall. The chemical... read more »
  • Mar 19
    2022
    Prof. Sriram Krishnamoorthy has received the "Most Valuable Presentation" at the Workshop on Compound Semiconductor Materials & Devices (WOCSEMMAD) 2022. WOCSEMMAD is a premier workshop in the US on high performance electronic materials. His presentation was on "Advances in Epitaxial Gallium (Aluminum) Oxide Thin Films and Heterostructure Materials and Devices" and... read more »
  • Jan 18
    2022
    John Harter, an assistant professor of materials at UC Santa Barbara, has received an Early CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the highest honor given by the foundation to junior faculty. Harter will receive more than $715,000 over five years in support of his cutting-edge research in quantum materials science and educational... read more »
  • Dec 14
    2021
    Professor Tresa Pollock has been elected as Membre D'honneur of the Société Française de Métallurgie et de Matériaux (SF2M). The title of honorary member constitutes a distinction intended to honor eminent scientists, engineers or technicians who have rendered outstanding service in the fields of the association. Only one person is elected as an honorary member per year.... read more »
  • Dec 7
    2021
    Materials assistant professors Angela Pitenis and Raphaële Clément are the latest UC Santa Barbara engineering junior faculty to receive Early CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award is regarded as the NSF’s most prestigious award for assistant professors and recognition that they are effectively integrating... read more »
  • Nov 16
    2021
    Please join me in congratulating our faculty who were recognized on the 2021 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher List. The annual list identifies researchers in the sciences and social sciences who demonstrated significant influence in their respective field or fields through publication of multiple highly cited papers during the past decade.     This year's list includes... read more »
  • Nov 10
    2021
    The Frontiers of Energy UC Santa Barbara professor Shuji Nakamura(link is external) is the recipient of the 3rd Annual Richard J. Goldstein Energy Lecture Award(link is external) from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Established in 2019, the award recognizes “pioneering contributions to the frontiers of energy, leading to breakthroughs in existing... read more »
  • Sep 21
    2021
    UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang announced the appointment of Materials Professor Tresa Pollock as the interim Dean of the College of Engineering. Her appointment, which follows the retirement of Dr. Rod Alferness, which will become effective today, September 21, after ten years of extraordinary service and leadership. The appointment of Dr. Pollock, ALCOA... read more »
  • Sep 7
    2021
    Juan Chamorro, a postdoctoral researcher in UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Department, has received a Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (MPS-Ascend) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The prestigious fellowship amounts to $100,000 per year for up to three years. The program supports outstanding future scientists who will... read more »