Prof Named APS Fellow for Materials Research
February 8, 2017
Dr. KJ Cho, professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, has recently been named an American Physical Society (APS) Fellow.
According to the APS, Cho received the honor for his “seminal contributions to the development and application of first principles methods in the study of nanoscale materials, and the application of rational material design approaches to develop metal alloy and transition metal oxide catalysts for clean energy.”
Cho said he was excited be chosen as a fellow.
This is Cho’s second such recognition, more than a decade ago he was named a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP).
Cho’s main area of research and teaching is multiscale modeling and simulation of nanoscale materials. In his research group – the Multiscale Simulation Lab – diverse modeling tools are developed and applied to nanomaterial design. His research has applications in electronic device materials, biotechnology and clean energy technology.
“With our research, we can better design new battery materials and new electronic device materials so we can develop advanced technologies – our frontier of new technology development requires that new materials be introduced into the equation,” said Cho.
Cho holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); his doctoral research was highlighted as “Simulating Reality” in the White House Report on National Science Policy in 1994. Before coming to the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, Cho was a research associate at Harvard University and MIT; from 1997-2006 he was an assistant professor at Stanford University.
Cho has published more than 270 journal articles and 40 conference papers, and he holds five U.S. patents. His most recent publications include articles in Nature Energy (2016) and Science (2015).
The American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 53,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.
“I’ve been designing new materials using computing power – predicting how electrons and atoms behave – for more than 20 years in my career. Once you get to a certain point of seniority and have made an impact, it’s a great honor to receive such an incredibly rewarding intellectual achievement and recognition.”