Two scientists at the forefront of materials research, Miaofang Chi and Rigoberto "Gobet" Advincula have garnered recognition for their exemplary contributions to the field. The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers were recently named Fellows of the Materials Research Society for the Class of 2025. This prestigious honor is reserved for less than 0.2% of the society's members, which counts over 13,000 individuals from around 90 countries, as per the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
MRS, an organization dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary, international materials research, has hailed Chi's pioneering work in electron microscopy. Her achievements are particularly noted in the study of energy materials, where she has advanced the understanding of functional interfaces at the atomic scale. Similarly, the society highlighted Advincula's extensive contributions to research on advanced polymers and nanostructured materials, which are critical work essential in various fields.
Chi, who maintains a joint appointment at Duke University, holds the title of ORNL Corporate Fellow at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a facility operated by the DOE Office of Science. In recognition of her research excellence, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Microscopy Society of America. Her current research illuminates mass and electron transport processes in materials designed for energy and quantum information science.
Advincula, concurrently serving as an ORNL-UT Governor's Chair Professor of advanced and nanostructured materials while being jointly appointed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, leads the charge in polymer and nanomaterials research at ORNL. As a celebrated Fellow of several professional societies, including the National Academy of Inventors and the American Chemical Society, he has distinguished himself in the field with his work on the controlled assembly and nanostructuring of polymers in thin films and monolithic structures.
The new MRS Fellows will be recognized at the upcoming MRS spring meeting in Seattle between April 7 and 11. The meeting promises to be a hub for interdisciplinary and international discourse on materials research and a networking opportunity for the global scientific community.
