Improving computer memory, solar cells goal of UH chemist

One of only 16 recipients, Lubchenko is among a select group of 2008 winners – all within the first three years of a tenure-track appointment – including scientists from Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, The Salk Institute and other top-tier institutions. Lubchenko is currently at the end of that third year.

Bestowed by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, the award is given to young faculty in chemistry and the life sciences at non-profit research institutions engaged in the most innovative research – those with the potential to achieve major advances in their fields. With its goals of promoting research and fostering new methods, instruments and materials in the chemical and life sciences, the foundation's grants open much-needed new avenues of research in science.

Lubchenko, a Ukrainian native, received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before coming to UH in 2005.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A photo of Vas Lubchenko is available on the Web at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/archive/nr/2008/07july/v-lubchenkoph.html. High-resolution photos are available by contacting Lisa Merkl.

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