Nitin Padture, professor of engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Materials Research at Brown University, received a Distinguished Service Award from his undergraduate alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. Since 1999 the awards have been given to IIT Bombay alumni who have contributed in a notable and sustained manner to the progress of the Institute.
Padture was honored as the co-leader of the Class of 1985 Legacy Projects, which include promoting entrepreneurship, supporting recruitment of top junior faculty at IITB, and supporting a Faculty Wellness Fund to benefit retired IITB faculty members and their families lacking medical coverage. Padture received the award last month at IITB's alumni day.
Padture's research and teaching interests are in the broad areas of synthesis/processing and properties of advanced materials used in applications ranging from jet engines to solar cells to computer chips, impacting transportation, energy, and information technology sectors. He has published 125 journal papers, which have been cited over 5,000 times, is co-inventor of four patents, and he has delivered over 150 invited/keynote/plenary talks in the U.S. and abroad. Padture is the recipient of several awards and is Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is editor of a prominent international journal, Scripta Materialia.