Robert Joseph Cava (born 1951) is a solid-state chemist at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

where he holds the title Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry. Previously, Professor Cava worked as a staff scientist at

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 ...

from 1979–1996, where earned the title of Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. his research investigates

topological insulators A topological insulator is a material whose interior behaves as an electrical insulator while its surface behaves as an electrical conductor, meaning that electrons can only move along the surface of the material. A topological insulator is an ...

semimetal A semimetal is a material with a small energy overlap between the bottom of the Electrical conduction, conduction Electronic band structure, band and the top of the valence band, but they do not overlap in momentum space. According to Band theory ...

s, superconductors, frustrated magnets and

thermoelectrics Thermoelectric materials show the thermoelectric effect in a strong or convenient form. The ''thermoelectric effect'' refers to phenomena by which either a temperature difference creates an electric potential or an electric current creates a te ...

Education

Cava was educated at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) where he was awarded

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

and

Master of Science 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 medici ...

degrees in

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 ...

and

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

in 1974 followed by a

PhD 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 ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s in 1978. His PhD was supervised by Bernhardt J. Wuensch and investigated the

electrical mobility Electrical mobility is the ability of charged particles (such as electrons or protons) to move through a medium in response to an electric field that is pulling them. The separation of ions according to their mobility in gas phase is called ion ...

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

s in

fast ion conductor In materials science, fast ion conductors are solid conductors with highly mobile ions. These materials are important in the area of solid state ionics, and are also known as solid electrolytes and superionic conductors. These materials are usefu ...

Career and research

In his career, he has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers, 36 of them in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' and 8 of them in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

''. These papers have been cited over 30,000 times, including his seminal work on Ba₂YCu₃O_9−δ (

YBCO Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) is a family of crystalline chemical compounds that display high-temperature superconductivity; it includes the first material ever discovered to become superconductivity, superconducting above the boiling point o ...

), which has been cited almost 1500 times. He holds 15 patents. Cava i Krawczyk2

His former doctoral students include Leslie Schoop.

Honors and awards

In recognition of his contributions, he was elected in 1988 a fellow of the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

and a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of fellows of the ...

. He was elected in 2001 a

Member of the National Academy of Sciences Membership of the National Academy of Sciences is an award granted to scientists that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States judges to have made “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research”. Membership ...

who specifically acknowledged his mastery of the ternary and quaternary oxides that produced materials possessing

high-temperature superconductivity High-temperature superconductivity (high-c or HTS) is superconductivity in materials with a critical temperature (the temperature below which the material behaves as a superconductor) above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are "high- ...

. In 1996 Cava received the Bernd T. Matthias Prize for new superconducting materials. He received in 2011 the

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...

and in 2012 the

Linus Pauling Award The Linus Pauling Award is an award recognizing outstanding achievement in chemistry. It is awarded annually by thePuget SoundOregon
an

. In 2014 he received a Doctor Honoris Causa degree from the

Gdańsk University of Technology The Gdańsk University of Technology (Gdańsk Tech, formerly GUT; ) is a public research university in Gdańsk, Poland. Founded in 1904 and re-established in 1945, it is the oldest university of technology in modern-day Poland. It is consisten ...

. Cava also won the 2021

David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics The David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1988. The recipient is chosen for "an outstanding contributor to the field of materials physics, w ...

. In addition to research, Cava's ability to connect with students while teaching has earned him several teaching awards, including the Fall 2002 Excellence in Teaching Award from

He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2016. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

Personal life

His biography at the

describes him as a

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

, dedicated supporter of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, passionate astronomer and amateur brewer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cava, Robert Living people 21st-century American chemists MIT School of Engineering alumni Princeton University faculty Scientists at Bell Labs Fellows of the American Physical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Royal Society 1951 births Solid state chemists