Dr. Stephen Z.D. Cheng has been elected to receive The Society of Polymer Science, Japan (SPSJ) International Award this year at the 66th annual meeting in May. The International Award is the highest honor of the society and is awarded to international scientists over the age of 55 years for both contributions to the field and collaborative activities with Japanese groups. The winners of the 2017 award are Professor Stephen Z. D. Cheng at The University of Akron, with Professor Harry R. Allcock at Pennsylvania State University, and Professor Chang-Sik Ha at Pusan National University.
Professor Cheng received his Ph.D. degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, in 1985. His research interests are in the area of chemistry, physics, and engineering of polymers and advanced functional materials including ordered structure, morphology, phase transition thermodynamics, kinetics, and molecular motions. His recent interests in particular are focusing on nanohybrid materials with different molecular chemical structures and physical topologies, architectures, and interactions and their assemblies in the bulk, solution, and thin films. He is also active in developing researches of conducting polymers, photovoltaics, polymer optics, and photonics.
He currently holds honors such as the Frank C. Sullivan Distinguished Research Professor and the R. C. Musson & Trustees Professor at the University of Akron. He has been a major professor for 85 Ph.D. students, 40 M.S. students, and more than 60 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists. Stephen Z. D. Cheng is the recipient of the Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991), the John H. Dillon Medal (APS, 1995), the Mettler-Toledo Award (NATAS, 1999), the TA-Instrument Award (ICTAC, 2004), the PMSE Cooperative Research Award (ACS, 2005), the Polymer Physics Prize (APS, 2013), and other awards and recognitions. Cheng has been a Fellow of AAAS and APS, and an Honorable Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society. He has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2008).
To learn more about SPSJ and this year’s awards, visit http://main.spsj.or.jp/c15/koku/kokuran.php.