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Advincula Selected as Symposium X Panelist at Materials Research Society’s Annual Meeting

Rigoberto Advincula.UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Advanced and Nanostructured Materials Rigoberto Advincula has been chosen to be a Symposium X panelist at the Materials Research Society’s (MRS) 50th Anniversary Meeting in San Francisco in April.

Advincula is one of just five people selected to participate in a Frontiers in Materials Panel at the event. The panel will serve to highlight the last five decades of advancements in materials research and attempt to identify and address the challenges of the coming years. His nomination was put forward by Assistant Professor Katherine Page of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, one of the MRS meeting chairs for this year.

“This is a tremendous honor to have been chosen to take part in a panel especially at the 50th anniversary meeting of MRS,” said Advincula, who works out of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UT and is also a Group leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “I look forward to the opportunity to discuss where we’ve come from, where we are, and where we can go, in terms of material research.”

He was selected by the Kavli Foundation for the opportunity. It was founded in 2000 with the goal of using science to benefit society through the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience, and theoretical physics. The Foundation has supported the Symposium X – Frontier of Materials Speaker series with MRS for many years. As a panel format, they plan to bring in a more interactive form of engagement from materials experts to discuss frontier research and summarize advancements through the years.

The Kavli Foundation is perhaps best known for the Kavli Prize, awarded biennially in conjunction with the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, with awards being given in the areas of astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience. In addition to the award, each winner receives $1million.

Getting selected by them to speak at the MRS meeting is an honor in and of its self, in other words.

“The Kavli Foundation is extremely well-respected in the scientific community,” Advincula said. “I am happy to have been selected as a Kavli Foundation panel speaker, and honored to represent them in a way at the conference.”

Advincula came to UT in January of 2020, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the areas of materials, nanomaterials, and polymers.