Nestor Zaluzec Honored

Nestor Zaluzec of Argonne's Materials Science Division has received the Microanalysis Society’s Presidential Science Award, which honors a senior scientist for outstanding technical contributions to the field of microanalysis over a sustained period. The award winner is chosen annually by the society’s president.

Zaluzec is a senior scientist and principal investigator in Argonne’s Electron Microscopy Center as well as a fellow of both Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Computational Institute of the University of Chicago. His research includes the development of state-of-the-art instrumentation, software and techniques for X-ray and electron spectroscopy, analytical and scanning confocal electron microscopy.

Nestor also founded and was the first director of the Electron Microscopy Center.

In addition to creating tools for science, he also uses these leading-edge technologies to study issues in technologically important materials. His work over the last 30 years has included studies in the areas of structural phase transformation in metals, radiation damage in alloys, ceramic oxides for geologic immobilization of nuclear waste materials, elemental segregation in a wide range of materials ranging from metals and catalyst to semiconductors and superconductors, magnetic dichroism, genetically engineered bio-materials and most recently studies of optical photovoltaics and plasmonics in coupled and hybrid nanostructures.

Zaluzec is currently investigating how aberration-corrected instruments can be reengineered to improve the sensitivity of spectroscopy in analytical modes.

He was one of the earliest to realize the potential impact of the Internet on science and established the first TelePresence Microscopy Collaboratory, which has served as a model for outreach to both the scientific and education communities, providing unencumbered access to scientific resources.

He has received numerous awards for his research and educational outreach.

He has and continues to hold numerous positions on local, national and international committees and engages the next generation of scientists through his adjunct work over the years with local universities as well as with middle and high school students through the Illinois Junior Academy of Science.

August 2012