The Materials Research Society (MRS) has named Professor Jiwoong Park of the University of Chicago Department of Chemistry, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the James Franck Institute as the 2025 recipient of the David Turnbull Lectureship. This highly esteemed career award recognizes a scientist for "outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding and communication of materials science."
Professor Park, who currently serves as Chair of the Department of Chemistry at The University of Chicago, is specifically honored for his “pioneering work on the synthesis, fabrication, and application of two-dimensional van der Waals crystals, transforming them into functional, large-scale materials with novel electrical, optoelectrical, and quantum properties.” He is set to deliver his award lecture, “More Magic with 2D Crystals,” at the 2025 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit in Boston this fall. His presentation will detail his recognized research on harnessing atomically thin materials for revolutionary electron transport, alongside the lab's latest advancements in engineering novel molecule-inorganic hybrid 2D systems. (The full abstract is available on the MRS website.)
The Award and Its UChicago Connection
Jiwoong Park's selection for the Lectureship award is a momentous achievement, making him the first active faculty member from the University of Chicago Department of Chemistry to receive the honor. He is only the second University of Chicago affiliate to be named a recipient, joining his esteemed colleague David D. Awschalom (2010), a pioneer in spintronics and quantum information. The recognition further places Park among the scientific leaders, echoing the prestige of past honorees like M. Stanley Whittingham, who received the 2018 Lectureship and went on to share the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This history underscores the Lectureship's remarkable track record of recognizing foundational research that precipitates world-changing technological advancements.
The Legacy of David Turnbull
The David Turnbull Lectureship honors the legacy of David Turnbull (1915–2007), a pioneering American physical chemist and Harvard professor who was instrumental in establishing materials science as an interdisciplinary field. The Lectureship award recognizes scientists who, like Turnbull, make fundamental breakthroughs in materials science and effectively communicate their research.
Biography
Jiwoong Park is a professor in Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at The University of Chicago. His research focuses on the science and application of nanoscale materials, especially 2D materials such as graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides. He received a BS degree from Seoul National University (1996) and a PhD degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley (2003; advisor: Professor Paul McEuen). Before coming to The University of Chicago in 2016, he was one of the first Junior Rowland Fellows at the Rowland Institute at Harvard University (2003–2006) and was a faculty member (2006–2016) at Cornell University. Park is a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award (2008), Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2009), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2010), and Scientist of the Year Award from the Korean Foundation of Science and Technology (KFST) (2023). His previous and current service roles include Associate Editor of Nano Letters (2017–2023) and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at The University of Chicago (2023–present).