Pulickel Ajayan, Arumugam Manthiram and Amit Misra.
AB Wire
Three Indian American researchers, Pulickel Ajayan, Arumugam Manthiram and Amit Misra, are among 14 individuals named as fellows of the US-based Materials Research Society, an interdisciplinary organization of materials researchers worldwide.
Ajayan works at Rice University, Manthiram at the University of Texas and Misra of the University of Michigan.
The Fellows are outstanding members whose sustained and distinguished contributions to the advancement of materials research are internationally recognized, and they exemplify the highest ideals of accomplishment and service embodied in the society mission, according to a press release.
The Materials Research Society (MRS) is an organization of materials researchers worldwide that promotes communication for the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research and technology to improve the quality of life.
Ajayan, a professor at Rice University, was named a Fellow for sustained and creative work in the development and applications of nanostructured and nanoengineered materials, in particular, carbon nanotubes, grapheme and other two-dimensional materials, according to an MRS statement.
A graduate of IIT Varanasi and Northwestern University, he is the founding chair of Rice University’s materials science and nanoengineering department and also holds joint appointments with the department of chemistry and department of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Manthiram was named a fellow for pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding and development of materials for energy conversion and storage, novel chemical syntheses, student education and training and leadership.
Manthiram has earned a bachelor’s and master’s in chemistry in Madurai University and a doctorate in chemistry from IIT-Madras. He is currently the director of the Texas Materials Institute and Materials Science and Engineering Program at UT Austin. He has previously spent time at the University of Oxford, Madurai Kamaraj University and the Indian Institute of Science.
Misra was honored for seminal and sustained contributions to nanomechanics and deformation mechanisms of nanocomposites and leadership to MRS and the materials community.
Misra is a graduate of IIT Varanasi, earning a bachelor’s degree, and the University of Michigan, where he earned a master’s and doctorate degree.
Prior to his tenure with the University of Michigan, where he serves as the professor and chair of materials science and engineering, he was a lab Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The trio will be honored at the society’s spring meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.