Chan Named Guggenheim Fellow

Originally published by Columbia News
"Columbia Faculty Boasts Five John Simon Guggenheim Fellows Among 2003 Recipients"
by Colin Morris

This year the Columbia faculty boasts five Guggenheim Fellows among their ranks. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation provides fellows with a grant on the basis of distinguished past achievement with exceptional promise for the future. Guggenheim Fellows utilize blocks of time -- ranging from six to twelve months -- to work freely on their respective creative endeavors. This year, 184 artists, scholars and scientists were selected from over 3,200 applicants for awards totaling $6,750,000.

Siu-Wai Chan is a professor of materials science in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics. Her research specialty is oxide interfaces, including oxide nanoparticles and high temperature superconductors. She is the recipient of an IBM Faculty Award, two DuPont Faculty Awards and the Presidential Faculty Award from the White House and National Science Foundation.

Chan received a B.S. from Columbia in 1980 and a Sc.D. from M.I.T. in 1985. Chan has 82 publications with 49 papers in referred journals, and is a member of the Materials Research Society; American Ceramic Society; The Minerals, Metals, Materials Society (TMS); American Physical Society, and the International Committee of Diffraction Data. Overall, Chan describes her research as aimed at searching for the basic understanding of boundaries and interfaces and applying the knowledge for better engineered electrical properties of materials for applications and new devices.