Prize Recipient

Kenneth S. Schweizer
University of Illinois

Citation:

"For outstanding theoretical contributions to the fundamental understanding of structure and dynamics in polymer melts, polymer blends, polymer-particle composites, and glasses."

Background:

Kenneth S. Schweizer received his B.S. in physics from Drexel University and Ph.D. in physics in 1981 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) working with David Chandler. After a postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories with Frank H. Stillinger, he joined Sandia National Laboratories as a research scientist in the Materials Directorate. In 1991 he moved to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UIUC where he is presently the G. Ronald and Margaret H. Morris Professor. Schweizer is also a principal investigator in the Materials Research Laboratory and a member of the Chemistry and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering faculties. His research interests are centered on developing and applying microscopic statistical mechanical theories of the structure, thermodynamics and dynamics of soft materials including polymers, colloids, nanocomposites and other complex fluids in the suspension, liquid, rubbery, gel and glass states. He has served as Chair of the APS Polymer Physics Division and is presently Associate Director of the NSF Center for the Directed Assembly of Nanostructures. Honors include the Dillon Medal and Fellowship in APS, a DOE-BES award for outstanding materials research, and departmental and engineering college teaching excellence awards.

Selection Committee:

Mark Ediger (Chair), B. Chu, G. Fredrickson, M. Rubinstein, D. Reichman