Staff Report
Jeff Brinker, UNM professor of chemical and nuclear engineering and chemistry has been named one of seven recipients of the E.O. Lawrence Award, given to recipients for outstanding contributions in the field of atomic energy.
"I'm of course extremely honored to be the recipient of this award. It recognizes research accomplishments - as opposed to being a lifetime achievement award," Brinker said in a University press release.
Atomic energy has influenced many fields of science such as environmental research and nuclear medicine that were just beginning to be explored when the award was first given in 1960.
"We are all enriched by the contributions these researchers had made ranging from understanding the genetic code to measuring the expansion of the universe itself," U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said.
Brinker earned the award for his innovative work in sol-gel chemistry to create nanostructured materials. It will be presented to him at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Monday, Oct. 28. Each of the six recipients will receive a gold medal, a citation of honor and $25,000.
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"I'd like to give credit to the fantastic students and post-docs who have worked with me over the past several years on topics like aero gels and self-assembled porous and composite nanostructures," Brinker said.
Brinker is also a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories and is the co-director of the Center for Micro-Engineered Materials at UNM. He has been inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional distinctions that can be bestowed upon an engineer.
Brinker noted the extensive collaboration between the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, the Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, Sandia, and the Advanced Materials Laboratory was a major catalyst for his success
The award was created to honor the late Ernest Orlando Lawrence who invented the cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator. Because of his contributions to the field, he had two major Energy Department laboratories in Berkeley and Livermore, Calif., named after him.
Other recipients of this year's E. O. Lawrence Award come from Stanford University, North Carolina State University and The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Md.
