The Charles E. Pettinos Award

Professor Deborah D. L. Chung

Niagara Mohawk Chair Professor

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Professor Deborah D. L. Chung of University at Buffalo, State University of New York, is the recipient of the Charles E. Pettinos Award to be given at Carbon 2004 (International Conference on Carbon), which will be held in Providence, Rhode Island on July 11-16, 2004. The Pettinos award, sponsored by the American Carbon Society, is an international award given triennially to a person or a group in recognition of recent outstanding research accomplishments in the field of carbon science and technology.

“The main impact of her outstanding work in the past 10 years has been in functionalizing and characterizing carbon materials in special ways for specifically intended functional applications,” wrote Prof. Mildred S Dresselhaus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in her support letter. “Her most recent research accomplishments on carbon black dispersions and carbon fiber composite materials (including multifunctional carbon fiber polymer-matrix, carbon-matrix and cement-matrix structural composites) are making a huge impact,” wrote Prof. Ralph T. Yang of University of Michigan.

Professors Chung’s research accomplishments have been in the design of “smart” carbon materials for specific applications, including electromagnetic shielding, sensors in cement-based carbon composite materials, and carbon composites for promoting good thermal contacts. Her work on cement-matrix structural composites (1997-2001 papers in Carbon Journal) has made major advances in the development of cement-based materials with functions including the self-sensing of strain/stress, temperature and damage.

Her most recent accomplishments include the development of carbon black pastes for improving thermal contact conductance (2003 paper in Carbon Journal). “But more importantly she has now developed a paste that can be used for making good thermal contacts at the nanoscale. This development is expected to have considerable impact on cooling electronics as the feature sizes get smaller and on thermoelectric devices more generally,” says Prof. Dresselhaus.

Professor Chung received her Ph.D. degree in material science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977 under the supervision of Professor. M. S. Dresselhaus, who introduced her to the field of carbon. She received her B.S. degree in engineering from California Institute of Technology in 1973, where the late Professor Pol Duwez introduced her to the field of materials science. She was one of the four first woman graduates of California Institute of Technology. Now she is the first American woman and the first person of Chinese descent to receive the Pettinos Award.

Professor Chung is the author of more than 400 journal articles and five books. Among her awards are the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award (2003) and Outstanding Inventor Award (2002), Tau Beta Pi’s Teacher of Year Award (1992), and the Hardy Gold Medal from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (1980). She has been an active member of the American Carbon Society for over 25 years, and currently serves on the Advisory Committee. She is a Fellow of the American Carbon Society and of ASM International.

Professor Chung will present the Pettinos Award Lecture titled “Functional Carbons for Thermal, Electromagnetic and Sensor Applications” at the Carbon 2004 conference.