Top row (left to right): Dr James Andorko, Mr Ali Navaei, Dr Yiqiang Chen. Middle row (left to right): Dr Mohsen Esmaily, Mr Mousa Younesi, Dr Abbey Thorpe. Bottom row (left to right): Mr Shiteng Zhao, Dr Emilio Martínez Pañeda, Dr Sébastien Dézécot.A team of judges consisting of Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, and Acta Biomaterialia editors has completed the evaluation of nominees for the above awards. Each year we receive many excellent nominations and selecting the winners is a challenging task. Several factors are considered in the evaluation of each nominee: the quality of paper, or papers, for which he or she was nominated, recommendation letters, and leadership potential. The awardees selected from papers published in 2016 in the Acta Journals are:
Dr. James Andorko, University of Maryland-College Park, USA (currently at Johns Hopkins University, USA). Advisor: Prof. Christopher Jewell. “Intrinsic immunogenicity of rapidly-degradable polymers evolves during degradation,” Acta Biomaterialia 32 (2016), 24-34.
Dr. Yiqiang Chen, University of Manchester, UK (currently at Monash University, Australia). Advisor: Prof. Michael Preuss. “An investigation of diffusion-mediated cyclic coarsening and reversal coarsening in an advanced Ni-based superalloy,” Acta Materialia 110 (2016), 295-305.
Dr. Sébastien Dézécot, INSA de Lyon, FRANCE (currently at CEA Saclay). Advisor: Prof. Jean-Yves Buffière. "In situ 3D characterization of high temperature fatigue damage mechanisms in a cast aluminum alloy using synchrotron X-ray tomography," Scripta Materialia 113 (2016), 254-258.
Dr. Mohsen Esmaily, Chalmers University of Technology, SWEDEN. Advisors: Profs. Jan-Erik Svensson and Lars-Gunnar Johansson. “New insights into the corrosion of magnesium alloys - the role of aluminum,” Scripta Materialia 115 (2016), 91–95.
Mr. Anirudh Raju Natarajan, University of California Santa Barbara, USA. Advisor: Prof. Anton Van der Ven. “On the early stages of precipitation in dilute Mg–Nd alloys,” Acta Materialia 108 (2016), 367-379.
Dr. Emilio Martínez Pañeda, University of Oviedo, SPAIN (currently at Technical University of Denmark). Advisor: Prof. Covadonga Betegón. "Strain gradient plasticity-based modeling of hydrogen environment assisted cracking," Acta Materialia 117 (2016), 321-332.
Mr. Ali Navaei, Arizona State University, USA. Advisor: Prof. Mehdi Nikkhah. “Gold nanorod-incorporated gelatin-based conductive hydrogels for engineering cardiac tissue constructs,” Acta Biomaterialia 41 (2016), 133-146.
Dr. Abbey Thorpe, Sheffield Hallam University, UK (currently at the Medical Research Council, UK). Advisor: Prof. Christine Le Maitre. “Thermally triggered injectable hydrogel, which induces mesenchymal stem cell differentiation to nucleus pulposus cells: Potential for regeneration of the intervertebral disc,” Acta Biomaterialia 36 (2016) 99-111.
Mr. Mousa Younesi, Case Western Research University, USA. Advisor: Prof. Ozan Akkus. “Heparinized collagen sutures for sustained delivery of PDGF-BB: Delivery profile and effects on tendon-derived cells In-Vitro,” Acta Biomaterialia 41 (2016) 100-109.
Mr. Shiteng Zhao, University of California San Diego, USA. Advisor: Prof. Marc Meyers. “Amorphization and Nanocrystallization of Silicon under Shock Compression,” Acta Materialia 103 (2016), 519-533.
The editors would like to congratulate the awardees and thank all the nominees for their participation. We look forward to continuing to work with and support these excellent young researchers as their careers unfold.
Christopher A. Schuh
Coordinating Editor, Acta Journals