Wong named outstanding young researcher

Wong named outstanding young researcher

BY DAWN DORSEY
Special to the Rice News

Michael S. Wong, who holds a joint appointment as assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and chemistry, has been recognized with the Young Investigator Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum.

AIChE is an international organization for chemical engineering professionals, with more than 40,000 members in 93 countries.

WONG

The honor acknowledges interdisciplinary research in nanoscale science and engineering by an engineer or scientist under the age of 35. Wong was singled out for advances in the development of superior nanoparticle catalysts for groundwater purification and in the assembly chemistry and scalable production of nanoparticles.

Wong received a cash award, and his travel expenses to the AIChE annual meeting in San Francisco in November are covered. He will deliver an address at the meeting.

Wong’s research interests include heterogeneous catalysis; encapsulation and delivery; materials, and nanoparticle chemistry. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1994 from the California Institute of Technology, then went on to earn master’s and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 2000 to 2001, he was a postdoctoral associate in chemistry at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In addition, Wong recently garnered several other honors. From the South Texas Section of AIChE, he received the Best Applied Paper Award with co-authors

Michael Nutt and Joseph Hughes. Also, he received Rice’s 2006 Hershel M. Rich Invention Award, presented annually to a faculty member or student who has developed an original invention. Earlier this year, he received a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award and an MIT Technology Review TR35 Young Innovator Award.