Tobin Marks Receives Nelson Taylor Award for Photonics Work

May 21, 2009

Tobin J. Marks, Vladimir N. Ipatieff Research Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, has received the 2009 Nelson W. Taylor Award from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State University.

The award recognizes Marks’ outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of materials, specifically his seminal contributions in the burgeoning area of photonic materials.

Marks, a world leader in materials chemistry, chemical catalysis and nanotechnology, will be honored in the fall at a university-wide symposium on photonic materials at Penn State. He will deliver the keynote address, the Nelson W. Taylor Memorial Lecture.

The Nelson W. Taylor Lecture Series, established in 1969, honors scientists of international prominence. Previous honorees have included Nobel Prize-winners Linus Pauling, Richard Smalley and Alan MacDiarmid.

Marks has developed a prototype of third-generation photovoltaic solar cells, composed of flexible, efficient, low-cost, organic materials, as well as new materials for sensors and light modulators enabling high-speed optical data transmission and processing.

Other achievements include high-performance transistors and light-emitting diodes based on organic materials (OLEDs), which lead to energy savings. The technologies are being incorporated into electronic devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers and cellular phones, as well as being the basis of what is known as electronic paper.

- Megan Fellman