Biography:Anna Balazs

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Anna C. Balazs
Born1953
Alma materBryn Mawr College (AB), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.M., PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsComputer modeling, Soft Matter, Polymer Physics, Fluid dynamics
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh
Doctoral advisorsK.H. Johnson, George M. Whitesides, Robert Silbey
Websitewww.engineering.pitt.edu/ccma

Anna C. Balazs (born 1953) is an American materials scientist and engineer. She currently is Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and holds the John A. Swanson Chair at the Swanson School of Engineering.[1][2][3]

Her research involves developing theoretical and computational models to capture the behavior of polymeric materials, nanocomposites and multi-component fluids in confined geometries. In 2016, Balazs was the first woman to receive the Polymer Physics Award from the American Physical Society “for imaginative and insightful use of theory to understand multi-component polymeric systems.” [4][5][6]

Balazs is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Materials Research Society. She was a Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University.

Education

Balazs received her B.A. degree with honors in Physics (minor: mathematics) from Bryn Mawr College, PA.; and master’s and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. During her PhD research, she worked with K.H. Johnson, Professor of Materials Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, George M. Whitesides, Professor of Chemistry, Harvard University, and Robert Silbey, Professor of Chemistry, M.I.T. on “Molecular Orbital Models for the Catalytic Activity of Coordinatively Unsaturated Transition Metal Complexes and Surfaces.”

Research

After working as a postdoctoral researcher at Brandeis University (1981-1983) in the Chemistry Department with Irving Epstein, she became a Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts (1984-1986) in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department with Frank Karasz, William MacKnight, and Isaac Sanchez.

In 1987 she moved to the University of Pittsburgh where she became an Assistant Professor (1987-1992), an Associate Professor (1992-1999), and Bicentennial Engineering Alumni Faculty Fellow.

She is the Principal Investigator of the NSF Center for Chemo-Mechanical Assembly (CCMA), established through the National Science Foundation Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program.[7][8]

Awards and Achievements

  • Fellow of the American Physical Society[9],
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
  • Fellow of the Materials Research Society[10], Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University. Sh
  • Editorial board of Macromolecules
  • Editorial board of Langmuir
  • Editorial board of  Accounts of Chemical Research
  • Editorial board of  Science Advances
  • Editorial board of Soft Matter
  • Chair of the American Physical Society Division of Polymer Physics in 1999-2000[11],
  • Special Creativity Prize from the National Science Foundation
  • Maurice Huggins Memorial Award of the Gordon Research Conference for outstanding contributions to Polymer Science (2003),
  • Mines Medal from the South Dakota School of Mines (2013)[12]
  • American Chemical Society Langmuir Lecture Award (2014)[13]
  • Royal Society of Chemistry S F Boys-A Rahman Award (2015)[14]
  • Polymer Physics Prize Recipient from the American Physical Society (2016)[15]

References

  1. "Anna Balazs". pitt.edu. http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/AnnaBalazs/. Retrieved May 2, 2017. 
  2. "Anna Balazs". pitt.edu. http://grace.che.pitt.edu/. Retrieved May 2, 2017. 
  3. Balazs, Anna (31 August 2017). "School of Engineering Names Anna Balazs to John A. Swanson Chair". University Times. https://www.utimes.pitt.edu/archives/?p=45354. Retrieved 12 April 2018. 
  4. Balazs, Anna. "Polymer Physics Award". http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2015/Anna-Balazs-Polymer-Physics-Prize/. Retrieved 12 April 2018. 
  5. Balazs, Anna. "2016 Polymer Physics Prize Recipient". https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Balazs&first_nm=Anna&year=2016. Retrieved 12 April 2018. 
  6. Balazs, Anna (19 October 2015). "Newsmaker: Dr. Anne Balazs". Tribune-Review. Tribune-Review Publishing Co.. http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/9219669-74/society-balazs-american. Retrieved 12 April 2018. 
  7. "NSF Center for Chemo-Mechanical Assembly". http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/News/2017/Anna-Balazs-NSF-CCMA. 
  8. "NSF Center for Chemo-Mechanical Assembly". https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1740630&HistoricalAwards=false. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  9. "APS Fellow Archive". https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1993&unit_id=&institution=University+of+Pittsburgh. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  10. "Materials Research Society". http://www.mrs.org/mrs-fellows-2014. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  11. "Past Executive Committees". https://www.aps.org/units/dpoly/governance/officers/past.cfm. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  12. "Anna Balazs announced as 2013 Mines Medalist". https://www.sdsmt.edu/News/Anna-Balazs-announced-as-2013-Mines-Medalist/#.WtDDkpch3-h. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  13. "Langmuir Lecture". http://colloidssurfaces.sites.acs.org/langmuirlecture.htm. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  14. "S F Boys-A Rahman Award 2015 Winner". http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/BoysRahmanAward/2015-Winner.asp. Retrieved 13 April 2018. 
  15. "Polymer Physics Prize". https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Balazs&first_nm=Anna&year=2016.