First awarded in 1991, the Ulrich Awards recognise outstanding contributions in sol-gel science and technology made by young researchers and are granted every second year in remembrance of the transformational contributions of Dr Donald Ulrich to our community. Candidates to be considered for Ulrich Awards are initially nominated by members of the ISGS community, with awardees then selected from among the nominees via a transparent and democratic vote of a distinguished committee selected by the ISGS Board.
The Board of Directors is delighted to announce that Dr Carolina Rosero (Japan) and Dr George Hasegawa (Japan) have been selected as the winners of the 2021 Ulrich Awards. Carolina’s career was profiled in the February 2021 ISGS Newsletter and she delivered the July 2021 ISGS eSeminar. Her passion for science in general and sol-gel science in particular has seen her move from her native Columbia to undertake pre-doctoral and doctoral studies at the Institute of Ceramics and Glass of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Spain. This was followed by post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Aveiro in Portugal and Hokkaido University in Japan. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the latter University, where she is exploring her interests in developing new sol-gel-based materials for applications in battery technology.
George is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability at Nagoya University in Japan. After receiving his PhD in chemistry from the Graduate School of Science at Kyoto University (Japan) in 2012, he joined the Applied Electrochemistry Group of Professor Takeshi Abe at Kyoto University as a JSPS Post -Doctoral Fellow from 2012 to 2015. During this period, he was a guest scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory (USA) in 2013 and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Germany) in 2014. Following a one–year research appointment at Osaka University, he accepted an appointment at Kyushu University (Japan) as Assistant Professor, where he worked with Professor Katsuro Hayashi studying solid-state ionics associated with the sintering of ceramics. In 2019, he moved to Nagoya University, joining the Porous Materials Chemistry Group led by Professor Kazuki Nakanishi. His current research interests involve functional porous materials prepared via phase separation, as well as interfacial electrochemical reactions between electrodes and electrolytes.
As is the case with our other awards, due to the ongoing situation with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, it will not be possible for the Ulrich Awards to be celebrated by the sol-gel community until we gather at the International Sol-Gel Conference in Lyon during July 2022. In the meantime, please join with the ISGS Board in offering congratulations for the career achievements that have led to these awards, and we look forward to celebrating their success with them in person at Lyon in July 2022.
