A major materials award for Chris Van de Walle

Materials professor Chris Van de Walle has been awarded the 2023 Materials Theory Award from the Materials Research Society (MRS), the leading professional society dedicated to advancing materials science. MRS gives a single Theory Award each year, in recognition of “exceptional advances made by materials theory to the fundamental understanding of the structure and behavior of materials.”

Van de Walle was recognized specifically for his contributions in developing ab initio (first principles) methodologies for understanding how point defects affect light emission in wide-bandgap semiconductors.