Ferenc Horkay

Dr. Ferenc Horkay , Research Scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the Lor�nd E�tv�s University (Budapest, Hungary) and DSc from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was a Professor at the Lor�nd E�tv�s University, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Freiburg (Germany), and a visiting professor at the University of Grenoble (France). In the USA, he worked as a researcher at the Polymers Division of the...See more

Dr. Ferenc Horkay , Research Scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the Lor�nd E�tv�s University (Budapest, Hungary) and DSc from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was a Professor at the Lor�nd E�tv�s University, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Freiburg (Germany), and a visiting professor at the University of Grenoble (France). In the USA, he worked as a researcher at the Polymers Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and at the Corporate Research Center of the General Electric Company. His scientific interest is to understand the fundamental principles that govern molecular interactions and define structural hierarchy in complex synthetic and biopolymer systems, such as biological tissues, gels, soft materials, self-assemblies and functional nanostructures. At the NIH, he launched a world class research program in biopolymer science. He developed a novel approach to determine the characteristic length scales that control the osmotic properties of biopolymer and biological gels by combining osmotic, neutron, x-ray and light scattering measurements. This multiscale characterization approach makes it possible to describe the hierarchy of length scales that arise in self-organizing biological materials and provides quantitative information on the effect of ions on the conformation and organization of charged biopolymer molecules and their assemblies. Knowledge of the consequences of ion mediated structural changes on the macroscopic properties provides insight how tissue morphology affects its function. Dr. Horkay has published more than 200 original research papers (several of them are highly cited), 16 book chapters, and edited 10 books. He is the inventor/co-inventor of 16 issued patents. He is regularly invited/keynote/plenary speaker at conferences, serves as chair and/or organizer for many symposia and workshops. He organized numerous symposia at conferences of the American Chemical Society, Materials Research Society, Polymer Networks Group (PNG), etc. He is active in various scientific organizations; in 2010, he was elected as Chair of the PNG, a worldwide organization of physicists, chemists, and materials scientists. Now he serves as the Secretary of the PNG. Dr. Jack Douglas obtained an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and a Master's Degree in Mathematics from Virginia Commonwealth University and then obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Chicago with Prof. Karl Freed. He then held a postdoc in Physics with Prof. Sam Edwards at Cambridge, followed by another at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After these postdoctoral positions, he joined NIST as a research scientist in the Polymers Division (NIST). Currently, he is a NIST Fellow, the most senior scientific position at NIST, in the Materials Science and Engineering Division. Dr. Douglas has received number of fellowships and awards: American Chemical Society Senior Award, IBM Fellow, Phi Kappa Phi /Sigma Xi, NATO Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory, National Research Council Fellowship, Bronze Medal from the Department of Commerce and Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2011, he was a Chemical Engineering Distinguished Lecturer and Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Imperial College and, until recently, he was an associate editor of Physical Review Letters . He has written around 400 publications, many highly cited, relating to condensed matter physics, but most of his publications are in the field of polymer physics... See less