A UF engineering professor has been honored with one of the most important awards in the field of electronics, according to a UF press release.
Stephen J. Pearton, professor of materials science and engineering, won the Electron Device Society's J.J. Ebers Award.
The society, a part of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, known as IEEE, presents the award annually to an individual "who has made either a single or a series of contributions of recognized scientific, economic or social significance in the broad field of electron devices," according to the award's Web site.
Pearton, who has been a UF professor since 1994, has a long list of notable achievements.
"Over the years, my collaborators and I have developed methods that helped realize new types of semiconductor chips and lasers … that are now used extensively in cell phones, DVD players, the infrastructure of the Internet and military systems like advanced radar," Pearton wrote in an e-mail.
Pearton's research has recently crossed into the disciplines of biology and chemistry.
He has been pioneering a new method of DNA and protein detection using semiconductors, which might help identify kidney disease.
A semiconductor is a controllable solid material that can conduct electricity and act as insulator.
Pearton is the third UF professor to receive the J.J. Ebers award and believes that UF fosters a good atmosphere for scientific work.
"Having three very distinguished faculty members who have won the Ebers award is a wonderful testament to the quality, originality and impact of our research in the field of electronic devices," said Pramod Khargonekar, dean of the College of Engineering, in the release.
The release stated that Pearton has been an influential force in his field for over 20 years. He has published 1,280 papers, given 1,000 talks and has been cited 23,000 times in academic papers by other scientists and engineers.
"I'm happy to have won the award since the IEEE is a major scientific society, and it brings some recognition to UF," Pearton wrote in the e-mail.
