A professor credited for technological breakthroughs in materials and electronic components has won one of the world’s largest single cash prizes for invention.
John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Chair in Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry, will receive $500,000 for the 2011 Lemelson-MIT Prize, which is granted every year to encourage innovators to advance economic, social, and environmentally sustainable development.
Rogers has pioneered work in semiconductor materials and flexible, stretchable electronics and has devised technology for solar power, biointegrated electronics, sensing, and fiber optics. His recent work has produced tiny eye-like cameras, less invasive surgical tools, and biocompatible sensor arrays.
Rogers joined the Illinois faculty in 2003. In addition to his appointment in chemistry, is is also a professor of materials science and engineering, mechanical science and engineering, bioengineering, and electrical and computer engineering.
He’s also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering and named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has also founded companies to commercialize his inventions.
Rogers has been recognized with many honors. They include the Leo Hendrick Baekeland Award from the American Chemical Society, and he has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Materials Research Society.
