February 8, 2011 | Faculty

Chemist Receives Top Honor

Tobin Marks elected honorary fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences

By Megan Fellman

Tobin Marks

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University chemist and materials scientist Tobin J. Marks, a world leader in the fields of organometallic chemistry, chemical catalysis, materials science, organic electronics, solar energy, photovoltaics and nanotechnology, has been elected an honorary fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

One of only three honorary fellows elected in 2010, Marks is being recognized for his outstanding contributions to science. Twenty-seven fellows also were elected. The academy, founded in 1934, focuses on “promoting the progress and upholding the cause of science in pure and applied branches.”

Marks is the 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.

Marks has developed processes for numerous types of recyclable, environmentally friendly plastics, efficient organic displays and transistor circuitry, and organic solar energy cells. He is a leader in the development and understanding of single-site olefin polymerization catalysis (now a multibillion-dollar industry) as well as in the study of new materials having remarkable electrical, mechanical, interfacial and photonic properties.

Other recent honors include the 2011 Schulich Prize from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; the 2010 Wilhelm Manchot Prize and a Distinguished Affiliated Professorship from the Technical University of Munich; the 2010 American Chemical Society (ACS) Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award; the 2010 Nichols Medal from the ACS; the 2009 Von Hippel Award from the Materials Research Society; and the 2009 Herman Pines Award from the Chicago Section of the North American Catalysis Society. Marks received the 2005 U.S. National Medal of Science at the White House.