Brown Engineering Professor Robert Hurt (second from left) is honored by the International Association of Advanced Materials at the European Advanced Materials Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. He is joined by (far left) Ashutosh Tiwari, of Linköping University, Sweden, Secretary General of the IAAM; Hisatoshi Kobayashi, National Institute of Materials Science, Japan, and member of the Congress Committee; and Georgia Tech's Zhong Lin Wang (far right), General Chair of Congress.
Brown Engineering Professor Robert Hurt was named the 2017 Graphene Award of the Year winner at the European Advanced Materials Congress, the principal annual international conference in the field organized by the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM). Hurt also delivered an award lecture at the plenary session entitled, "Graphene-based Breathable Barriers for Multifunctional Fabrics."
The Graphene Award is given by the IAAM for notable and outstanding research in the field of graphene science and technology. The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding international research work in graphene and 2D materials. Across the world any researcher engaged in research in the field of graphene and 2D materials and technology is eligible for this award. The prize is awarded based on contributions made through work done during the five years prior to the announcement of the award.
Hurt received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1987 and before joining Brown held positions in the Central Research and Development Division of Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany, and at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the materials science and nanotechnology journal CARBON. He served as Technical Program Chair for the international conference, Carbon2004, and in the same year received the Graffin Lecture Award of the American Carbon Society. Hurt also received the Silver Medal of the Combustion Institute in Naples, Italy in 1996 and an NSF CAREER Award in the same year. He currently serves as Director of Brown's NIH-supported Superfund Research Program Center on environmental health and Principal Investigator on the GAANN training grant "Interdisciplinary Training in the Applications and Implications of Nanotechnology."
Hurt's research focuses on nanomaterials and their applications and implications for human health and the environment. Current research thrusts include the biological response to graphene-family nanomaterials, mechanisms of carbon nanotube uptake and toxicity, nano-silver and nano-copper transformations in the natural environment, safe material design, and the assembly and folding of graphene to make three-dimensional architectures for barrier and encapsulation technologies, and as electrodes and catalyst supports.
The 2017 European Advanced Materials Congress took place in Stockholm, Sweden in August. The goal of the annual congress is to provide a global platform for researchers and engineers coming from academia and industry to present their research results and activities in the field of fundamental and interdisciplinary research of materials science and technology. It brings together professors, researchers, scientists, business giants, and technocrats to offer an international platform for the dissemination of original research results, new ideas and practical development and discover advances in the field of advanced materials and related interdisciplinary topics.