Another List of Laureates

UC Santa Barbara’s Galen D. Stucky, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and of materials, has been named a 2014 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate. The annual honor mines scientific research citations to identify the most influential researchers in the fields of chemistry, physics, medicine and economics through the selection of one-tenth of 1 percent of the highest impact papers.

Stucky was named along with Ryong Ryoo, a distinguished professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and alumnus Charles T. Kresge, chief technology officer of Saudi Aramco, for the design of functional mesoporous materials. The Stucky Group synthesizes these materials, which contain pores with diameters between 2 and 50 nanometers, for use in optical, biomolecular, photovoltaic and photocatalytic composite systems.

“It is a pleasure to share this honor with two professional colleagues, Charles T. Kresge and Ryong Ryoo, who have been instrumental in developing a bottom-up molecular approach to ordered mesoscale materials,” Stucky said. “This research has opened up a new dimension to materials science and technology, which are thriving on the new multiscale structural and property opportunities that have been enabled.”

Stucky received his Ph.D. in 1962 from Iowa State University. After postdoctoral study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he held positions at the University of Illinois, Sandia National Laboratory and DuPont Central Research and Development. Stucky joined the faculty in 1985, serving as a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and in the Department of Materials. Also a member of the interdepartmental graduate program in Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Stucky was appointed the E. Khashoggi Industries, LLC Professor in Letters and Science in 2006.

A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1994, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Humboldt Research Prize in 2000; the American Chemical Society Award in Chemistry of Materials in 2002; the International Mesostructured Materials Association Award in 2004; and fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. In 2008 he received the Department of Defense’s Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Award. He was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 2013, and in 2014 was a recipient of the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research.  

Established in 2002, Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates is a list of candidates considered likely to win the Nobel Prize in their respective field. According to Thomson Reuters, a correlation appears to exist between high citation rates for a published researcher and the award of prestigious accolades. Furthermore, the company notes that citation rates reveal researchers whose instrumental contributions advance the science of their respective fields.