Samson Jenekhe, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering, and James De Yoreo, chief scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a UW affiliate professor of chemistry and of materials science and engineering, have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, announced Feb. 9 by the academy.
Along with Anna Karlin, UW professor of computer science and engineering, Jenekhe and De Yoreo are among 111 new members across the U.S. who are honored for contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”
Jenekhe studies the fundamental physical and chemical properties of semiconductor materials, as well as their practical applications. Research topics have included organic and flexible electronics, the use of organic light-emitting diodes for lighting and displays, energy storage and conversion systems, semiconducting polymers and polymer-based photovoltaic systems.
Jenekhe is fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Physical Society, which in 2021 also awarded him the Polymer Physics Prize. He was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences in 2013 and in 2014 received the Charles M.A. Stine Award for Excellence in Materials Science from the American Institute for Chemical Engineers.
The research interests of the De Yoreo group can be broadly categorized as understanding and manipulating the physics of interactions and assembly at solid-liquid interfaces in nanoscale, biological, biomimetic, and environmental systems. The primary techniques used in support of this work are in situ scanned probe microscopy and in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in combination with theoretical analysis.
De Yoreo is co-director of the joint UW-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Northwest Institute for Materials Physics, Chemistry, and Technology (NW IMPACT), and deputy director of the UW-led Center for the Science of Synthesis Across Scales (CSSAS). He is recognized as a UW-PNNL Distinguished Faculty Fellow.
Read the UW News story by James Urton, February 11, 2022.