Materials Research Society President Oliver Kraft has announced Seth R. Marder as the 2015 recipient of the Mid-Career Researcher Award.  This award recognizes exceptional achievements in materials research made by mid-career professionals, and the award recipient must also demonstrate notable leadership in the materials area.

Dr. Marder is the Georgia Power Chair in Energy Efficiency and a Regents’ Professor of Chemistry and Professor Materials Science and Engineering (courtesy) at Georgia Tech.

Dr. Marder was chosen from a large group of extraordinary nominees “for establishing fundamental relationships between the chemical structure of organic molecules and their optical and electronic properties thereby profoundly impacting how the scientific community designs optimized molecular structures for use in nonlinear optical applications.”  Dr. Marder working with many colleagues, most notably Drs. Joseph Perry, and Jean-Luc Brédas provided both theoretical and experimental guidelines for the development of materials for second-order and third-order nonlinear optical materials which find applications in areas ranging from high speed signal processing to 3D micro- and nano-fabrication.  His work thus far has results in over 30 issued patents, many of which have been licensed.

The award consists of an engraved trophy and a cash prize.  These will be presented at the 2015 MRS Spring Meeting, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. in San Francisco.  Dr. Marder will also present a talk during the meeting on April 8.

He holds or has held the following leadership roles: Founding Director of Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Director AFOSR- Center for Organic Materials for All-Optical Switching (COMAS), Co-Director NSF-GT Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Associate Director- DOE Energy Frontier Research Center: CISSEM

Dr. Marder’s research interests include Organic Materials, Optical Materials, Electronics Materials and Surface Modification.  However he is equally committed to his educational and diversity related activities at the Georgia Institute of Technology and around the US and the world.

His journal editorships include Materials Horizons – Founding Chair Editorial Board; Journal of Materials Chemistry – Member, Editorial Advisory Board;

Chemistry of Materials – Member, Editorial Advisory Board; and, Nonlinear Optics, Quantum Optics – Member, Editorial Advisory Board.

The Materials Research Society (MRS) was established in 1973 by a visionary group of scientists who shared the belief that their professional interests were broader in scope than existing single-discipline societies and that a new interdisciplinary organization was needed.

Today MRS is a growing, vibrant member-driven organization of over 16,000 materials researchers from academia, industry and government, and is a recognized leader in the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research. Headquartered in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, (USA), MRS membership now spans over 80 countries.