The Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Zhenan Bao, Department Chair and K.K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering, and by courtesy, a Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Material Science and Engineering at Stanford University, has been selected to receive the 2020 Willard Gibbs Award. Because of the ongoing pandemic, the Award and Medal Celebration will be conducted by the Zoom meeting on Friday, November 13th, 2020. Prof. Bao will present the award lecture on Skin-Inspired Electronics.
A no-cost registration, required to obtain a web link for a connection to the meeting, may be made at the Chicago Section ACS Web Page (http://chicagoacs.org) or by calling the Chicago Section’s Office (847-391-9091).
The Willard Gibbs Award recognizes exceptional individuals whose pioneering work has opened new fields of chemical research. Bao is being recognized for groundbreaking pioneering concepts on design, synthesis, processing, and characterization of organic semiconductors. Her accomplishments include advancing molecular design rules for mobility in semiconductors, developing a method to print large arrays of patterned single crystals as the basis for fabricating practical devices, pioneering skin-inspired electronics, and important contributions to the engineering of carbon nanomaterials.
Prof. Bao is an internationally recognized expert in skin-inspired electronics. Skin is the body’s largest organ and is responsible for the transduction of a vast amount of information. This conformable, stretchable, self-healable and biodegradable material simultaneously collects signals from external stimuli that translate into information such as pressure, pain, and temperature. Development of electronic materials, inspired by the complexity of this organ is a tremendous, unrealized materials challenge. However, new organic-based electronic materials may offer a potential solution to this longstanding problem. Professor Bao will present the award lecture on designing organic electronic materials to mimic skin functions. These new materials have enabled new applications in medical devices, robotics and wearable electronics.
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, Bao is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the Materials Research Society, and several other scientific organizations. Bao was selected as Nature’s Ten people who mattered in 2015 as a “Master of Materials.” She was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal by Austrian Federal Minister of Science, the ACS Award on Applied Polymer Science, the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in the Physical Sciences, the AICHE Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering, the ACS Carl Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award, the ACS Cope Scholar Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize, the IUPAC Creativity in Applied Polymer Science Prize, and many other awards and recognition.
Bao is a co-founder and on the Board of Directors for C3 Nano and PyrAmes; both are Silicon Valley venture-funded startups. She serves as an advising Partner for Fusion Venture Capital.
Contact: Russell Johnson 630-212-4501; russ@mychemist.net
Chicago Section ACS Public Relations Committee
