Prize Recipient

Helmut Strey
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Citation:

"For contributing significantly to our understanding of the physics of biopolymers and polyelectrolytes."

Background:

A native of Germany, Strey is an assistant professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a position he has held since 1998. He received his PhD in physics in 1993 from the Technical University, Munich, and joined the National Institutes of Healthy as a Fogarty Visiting Fellow the following year. His research focuses on nature's ability to assemble simple molecular building blocks into highly ordered materials, such as those found in cell membranes, cell nuclei, cytoskeletons, cartilage or bone. He is using aqueous self-assembly to create micro- and nano-structures for the next generation of controlled drug delivery, chiral separation and DNA sequencing applications. He received an NSF Career Award in 2000.

Selection Committee:

Ralph H. Colby (Chair), Frank Bates, Richard Register, Scott Milner, Timothy Lodge