John A. Rogers
Founder Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor of Chemistry
Professor Rogers received degrees in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 and a PhD degree in Physical Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995. He then worked as a Junior Fellow at Harvard University and launched the start-up company Active Impulse Systems in Natick, Massachusetts. The company was acquired in whole by Philips in 1998. He joined Bell Laboratories in 1997 and most recently served as their Director of Condensed Matter Physics Research. He joins the faculty at UIUC in 2003. In addition to his 100+ publications, he has nearly 60 patents and patent applications in areas ranging from acoustics to neural networks to nanofabrication to fiber optics and organic electronics. More than 30 of these are licensed or in active use. He and his research group have received many honors for their research, including awards for technologies that will "change the World" from MIT's Technology Review Magazine (microfluidic fiber optics: 2004) and Business 2.0 Magazine (tunable dispersion compensator; 2002) several R&D100 Awards from R&D Magazine (2001, 2002), American Chemical Society Award for Team Innovation (2002), and many others. Their research has been featured on the covers of recent issues of Applied Physics Letters, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Physics Status Solidi A, Journal of Polymer Science, Materials Today, MRS Bulletin, and other publications. Rogers was named a Robert B. Woodward Scholar by Harvard University and was selected by the National Academy of Engineering as one of the top 100 young engineers (2000) and by MIT's Technology Review Magazine as one of the top 100 young innovators for the 21st century (1999).
Research
Our research seeks to understand and exploit interesting characteristics of 'soft' materials, such as polymers, liquid crystals and biological tissues. Our aim is to control and, in some cases, to induce novel electronic and photonic responses in these materials; we also develop new 'soft lithographic' and biomimetic approaches for nanopatterning them and guiding their growth. This work combines fundamental studies with forward-looking engineering efforts in a way that promotes positive feedback between the two. Our current research focuses on soft materials for molecular electronics, flexible 'macroelectronic' circuits, nanophotonic structures, microfluidic devices and microelectromechanical systems. These efforts are highly multidisciplinary, and combine expertise from nearly every traditional field of technical study: chemistry and chemical engineering, physics, electrical engineering, materials science and biology.
Some highlights of our work over the last two years, as described in detail in the papers and press materials listed below, include the first: (i) flexible paper like displays, (ii) tunable microfluidic optical fiber, (iii) stamping techniques with nanometer resolution and (iv) high speed nematic liquid crystal microcell modulators built between the tips of optical fibers.
Publications
Prof. Rogers has over 120 papers in journals including Science, Applied Physics Letters, Optics Letters, Annual Reviews of Materials Science, Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, Advanced Materials, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Langmuir, Journal of Materials Research and many others. For a complete list, see Rogers research group page.
Awards
- "10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change Your World", MIT's Technology Review Magazine (2004)
- OFC Attendee's Choice Award, Lightwave Magazine (2002)
- Excellence in Technical Innovation Award, Laser Focus World Magazine (2002)
- Circle of Excellence Award, Photonic Spectra Magazine (2002)
- R&D100 Innovation Award, R&D Magazine (2001 & 2002)
- American Chemical Society Award for Team Innovation (2002)
- R&D Magazine's Editor's Choice for the "Best of the Best (2001)
- Robert B. Woodward Scholar, Harvard University (2001)
