Joanna Aizenberg (born 1960) is a professor of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

chemical biology Chemical biology is a scientific discipline between the fields of chemistry and biology. The discipline involves the application of chemical techniques, analysis, and often small molecules produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and m ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She is the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of

Materials Science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the co-director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology and a core faculty member of the

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (pronounced "veese") is a cross-disciplinary research institute at Harvard University focused on bridging the gap between academia and industry (translational medicine) by drawing inspirat ...

. She is a prominent figure in the field of biologically inspired materials science, having authored 90 publications and holding 25 patents.

Education

Aizenberg received her B.S. degree in chemistry and her

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

degree in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1981 and 1984 respectively, and her

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. degree in

structural biology Structural biology deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every level of organization. Early structural biologists throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries we ...

from the

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

in 1996.

Career

She did her postdoctoral research with George Whitesides at Harvard University, investigating micro/nanofabrication and

near-field optics Near-field optics is that branch of optics that considers configurations that depend on the passage of light to, from, through, or near an element with subwavelength features, and the coupling of that light to a second element located a subwavelen ...

. In 1998, she joined

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

as a member of the technical staff where she has made a number of pioneering contributions, including developing new biomimetic approaches for the synthesis of ordered mineral films with highly controlled shapes and orientations, and discovering unique biological optical systems that outperform technological analogs, as well as characterizing the associated organic molecules. In 2007, Aizenberg joined the

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...

. The lab's research investigates a wide range of topics that include biomimetics, self-assembly, adaptive materials, crystal engineering, surface wettability, nanofabrication, biooptics, biomaterials, and biomechanics. In 2019, Aizenberg was elected into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

for contributions to the understanding of biological systems and bioinspired materials design.

Awards

* Elected to the

, 2019 * Elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, 2019 *Elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

(2016) *Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(2014) *Ronald Breslow Award for the Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, ACS 2008 *Industrial Innovation Award, American Chemical Society, 2007 *Outstanding Women Scientists Award, Indiana University, 2006 *Lucent Chairman's Award, 2005 *Pedersen Award Lecture, DuPont, 2005 *ACS PROGRESS Lectureship Award, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 2004 *Distinguished Women Scientists Lectureship, University of Texas at Austin, 2003 *New Investigator Award in Chemistry and Biology of Mineralized Tissues, 2001 *Arthur K. Doolittle Award of the American Chemical Society (ACS), 1999 *Award of the Max-Planck Society in Biology and Materials Science, Germany, 1995

References

External links

Aizenberg Group at HarvardTed Talk - Extreme Biomimetics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aizenberg, Joanna Living people 21st-century American chemists Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty Moscow State University alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1960 births Weizmann Institute of Science alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Physical Society