Lena Kourkoutis, Associate Professor, and Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University, has been elected a 2022 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).
The fellowship recognizes APS members who have made advances in physics through original research and publication, or who have made significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. They may also have made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in the activities of the Society. Fellowship is a distinct honor signifying recognition by one's professional peers. Each year, no more than one half of one percent of the Society’s membership (excluding student members) is recognized by their peers for election to the status of Fellow of the American Physical Society.
APS recognized Kourkoutis for pioneering contributions to the development of atomic-resolution cryogenic scanning transmission electron microscopy as a quantitative tool for probing electronic phases in materials and processes at interfaces between solids and liquids. “I am honored to be recognized for our contributions this field, not only for myself but also for the outstanding students and postdocs I have worked with over the years,” Kourkoutis said.
Kourkoutis focuses her work on understanding and controlling nanostructured materials, from complex oxide heterostructures to materials for battery and photovoltaic applications to biomaterials. Her group’s research interests include nanostructured materials, next-generation energy-related devices, complex electronic materials, atomic-resolution electron microscopy and spectroscopy, and cryo-electron microscopy for soft and composite materials.
Kourkoutis received a Diploma in Physics from the University of Rostock, Germany in 2003, and then moved to Ithaca where she was awarded a PhD in 2009. As a Humboldt Research Fellow Kourkoutis spent 2011–2012 exploring cryo-electron microscopy in the Molecular Structural Biology Group at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. She returned to Cornell as a Postdoctoral Associate in 2012 and joined the Applied and Engineering Faculty in 2013. She was selected by Microscopy Society of America as the recipient of the prestigious 2013 Albert Crewe Award
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