Hersam Receives Robert Lansing Hardy Award for 2006

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Mark C. Hersam, assistant professor of materials science and engineering in Northwestern University’s Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, has received the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s Robert Lansing Hardy Award for 2006.

The Hardy Award recognizes people who have exceptional promise in the field of metallurgy. The winner receives a $500 stipend from the Ford Motor Company.

Hersam’s research focuses on developing scanning probe microscopy techniques that enable sensing, characterization and actuation at the single molecule level. He also has ongoing materials science projects that include exploration of molecular rotors, carbon nanotubes, polymer micelles and DNA/protein interactions.

His research is accomplished with sophisticated instrumentation including an ambient atomic force microscope and two homebuilt ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopes.

Hersam, who joined Northwestern in 2001, has received many awards during his career. Last spring he was recognized by the New Faces of Engineering program of Engineers Week for his work in silicon-based molecular electronics. Other awards include the 2005 Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 606 Magazine’s 2004 “30 Under 30” Award, 2003 Teacher of the Year Award for the department of materials science and engineering, 2002 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2001 Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2001 Searle Center for Teaching Excellence Junior Fellow and 2000 Gregory Stillman Semiconductor Research Award.

He has co-written numerous articles, which have appeared in various publications including Nano Letters, Nanotechnology, Applied Physics Letters, Review of Scientific Instruments and Langmuir.

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