Congratulations to:
Joanna Aizenberg and Zhigang Suo

May 1, 2019

Two faculty members of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, are among the 100 new members and 25 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of "their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."

Joanna Aizenberg, the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology. Aizenberg's research explores the design principles that allow biological organisms to adapt to their changing surroundings. Her lab studies glass structures in sea sponges, the lens-covered skeleton of brittlestars, and the slime on the top of bacterial colonies to elucidate the relationships between material structure and function. In addition to her role at SEAS, Aizenberg is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, which is based at SEAS; and a core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. She is a faculty associate of the Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) and an affiliate of the BASF North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials, based at SEAS. She also participates in Harvard's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

Zhigang Suo, the Allen E. and Marilyn M. Puckett Professor of Mechanics and Materials. Suo studies small materials structures and the mechanics of nanofabrication, self-assembly, and durability. Suo and his students aim to create scientific models of small-scale processes that have significant engineering consequences in microelectronics, large-area electronics, soft materials, active materials, and lithium-ion batteries. Suo was Area Dean for Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at SEAS and a Kavli Scholar at the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science & Technology.

The induction ceremony will be at the NAE's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on October 6, 2019.