Exemplifying Governor Andrew Cuomo’s high-tech paradigm for educational excellence and world-class research, SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) Professor of Nanoscience Dr. Eric Lifshin has been chosen to receive the 2013 “Peter Duncumb Award for Excellence in Microanalysis,” the Microanalysis Society’s (MAS) prestigious lifetime achievement award honoring significant contributions to the science and methods that underpin the field of electron beam microanalysis.
“This recognition demonstrates the success of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s vision and leadership in establishing New York as the global hub for nanotechnology, as illustrated by Professor Lifshin’s pioneering achievements in microanalysis that underscore CNSE’s world-class education and research,” said CNSE Senior Vice President and CEO Dr. Alain Kaloyeros. “I congratulate Professor Lifshin on this prestigious award, which honors not only his technical achievements, but also his commitment to educating the next generation of scientists and researchers who will drive innovation-enabled scientific discovery in the 21st century.”
Following a 38-year career at GE Global Research, and service as president of the Microanalysis Society in the mid-1970s, Dr. Lifshin brought his wealth of knowledge to CNSE, joining as a founding professor in 2000. He currently teaches several courses that he designed, including Thin Film Analysis; Between Object and Image: Exploring the Relationship Between Art and Science; and a graduate course in Scanning Electron Microscopy.
“This award is a real honor, as it is only given to one person each year who has an ongoing career, a history of moving microanalysis forward through cutting-edge research, and a passion for educating future researchers in this ever-evolving field,” said Dr. Lifshin. “I am extremely grateful to be recognized by my peers, and I am also pleased to be able to continue my work at CNSE, the world’s most advanced environment for innovation.”
Dr. Lifshin was one of the first researchers in the world to combine an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), an innovation that is now a standard analytical method used in thousands of SEM’s throughout the world. In addition to helping popularize the technique, he showed how the SEM/EDS could be used to measure absolute X-Ray production efficiencies and to determine the shape of the X-Ray continuum, facilitating the development of better procedures for quantitative X-Ray microanalysis to more effectively characterize materials. He was also a pioneer in instrument automation, new modes of SEM imaging, and the use of Monte Carlo Modeling to better understand the interaction of electron beams and solids.
He is a co-author of the most broadly used textbook in his field of study, entitled, “Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis.” In addition to having authored numerous journal articles, he is regularly invited to provide scholarly talks at universities and conferences. His current research is centered on improving the quality and resolution of SEM images, an area of great importance to research, development, and manufacturing in many fields, including nanoelectronics fabrication.
Dr. Lifshin will formally receive the Peter Duncumb Award at the MAS meeting on Monday, August 5 in Indianapolis. It is named for a pioneer in the field who, among other accomplishments, developed X-Ray mapping more than 50 years ago.