Professor Jiyu Fang has been awarded the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) Scientist Medal for his contributions to the field of materials science and engineering. This award is given to researchers who have made an impact through their work over the past decade, and is one of the most prestigious honors bestowed from IAAM.
The organization awards one Scientist Medal per year but recognizes other researchers, industry professionals, policymakers and students through a variety of other awards at the Assembly of Advanced Materials Congress.
“I am honored to receive the 2024 IAAM Scientist Medal in recognition of my contribution to biomaterials and biosensors,” Fang says. “In 2022, I was elected as a Fellow of the IAAM and this award deepens my service to this organization.”
Scientist medal awardees are also invited to present a distinguished lecture at the Assembly of Advanced Materials Congress, which was hosted in Orlando this year. Fang’s lecture, titled “Engineering of Liquid Crystal Emulsions for Biosensing Applications,” highlighted his efforts to develop liquid crystal-based sensors for biomedical applications. These sensors can be used for rapid, sensitive and label-free detection of important biological species and their interactions in biological fluids.
Fang has been conducting this research since he joined the University of Central Florida as an associate professor in 2003. Since then, he has conducted various research projects that span the interdisciplinary areas of physics, chemistry, materials science and biology. His research interests include biomaterials and the development of technology, particular in the design of highly efficient photo-induced electron transfer supermolecule systems, drug delivery vehicles and atomic force microscopy-based nanoindentations. Over the course of his career, he has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal publications.
Fang earned his doctoral degree in bioengineering from Southeast University in China. He completed his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics at the Chinese Academy of Science and Nanjing Normal University, respectively. He completed a postdoctoral appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining UCF, he served as a researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering in Washington D.C.
In addition to teaching and researching in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Fang also serves as the associate chair and the graduate program director. He is also the director of the Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center at UCF.
- Written by Marisa Ramiccio
- April 1, 2024