# Phaedon Avouris

Phaedon Avouris (Greek: Φαίδων Αβούρης; born 1945) Is current manager of IBM’s work in Nanoscience and Nanotechnolegy, and a leader in seeing the connection between the breakthroughs and applying them to realistic research. He is among the select few scientists advising major corporations on whether molecular devices can be commercialized to outperform and outlast today’s computers and portable electronics. Avouris has made critical discoveries, both experimental and theoretical, on the electronics and photonics of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene, and has laid the foundations of future carbon-based nanotechnology.

## Biography

Phaedon Avouris was born in 1945 in Athens, Greece. In 1968, he graduated from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, with a BSc in chemistry. Following his postdoctoral work at the University of California, Los Angeles, Phaedon Avouris went to Michigan State University in 1974 and received a Ph.D in physical chemistry. Avouris was an adjunct research professor at Columbia University NY in 2003 and in 2016 he was appointed an Adjunct Research Professor in the ECE Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

## Awards and honors

Phaedon Avouris was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003, the Academy of Athens, Greece (Corresponding member) in 2007, and the IBM Academy of Technology in 2004.
He was also appointed a Fellow in the following scientific societies: the American Physical Society (APS) in 1987; The Institute of Physics (U.K.) in 2004; The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in 2014; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1996; Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2011; American Vacuum Society (AVS) in 1997; World Technology Network (1999).
For his work, Avouris has received many awards from various scientific institutions, including the following:
* Irving Langmuir Prize for Chemical Physics, American Physical Society, 2003
* Medard W. Welch Award for Surface Science, American Vacuum Society, 1997
* IEEE Nanotechnology Section, Nanotechnology Pioneer Award, 2010
* Richard Feynman Prize for Nanotechnology, Foresight Institute, 1999
* Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics (with T. Heinz), 2008.
* MRS David Turnbull Lectureship, Materials Research Society, 2011
* Richard E. Smalley Prize of the Electrochemical Society, 2009
* H. Bloch Medal, Excellence of Research in Industry, Univ. of Chicago, 2015
* IBM Exceptional Achievement Corporate Award, 2011
* Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards, IBM Corporation, 1989, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2013, 2015
* Honorary Doctorate, International Hellenic University, 2013
* Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017
* Distinguished Alumnus Award, Michigan State University, 2001

## General references

* Avouris, Phaedon (1 March 1995). "Manipulation of Matter at the Atomic and Molecular Levels". Accounts of Chemical Research. 28 (3): 95–102. doi:10.1021/ar00051a002. ISSN 0001-4842.
* Avouris, Phaedon (1 January 2009). "Carbon nanotube electronics and photonics". Physics Today. 62 (1): 34–40. Bibcode:2009PhT....62a..34A. doi:10.1063/1.3074261. ISSN 0031-9228.
* Weiss, Paul S. (28 December 2010). "A Conversation with Dr. Phaedon Avouris: Nanoscience Leader". ACS Nano. 4 (12): 7041–7047. doi:10.1021/nn1032032. ISSN 1936-0851. PMID 21186842.
* Avouris, Phaedon; Freitag, Marcus; Perebeinos, Vasili (2008). "Carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics". Nature Photonics. 2 (6): 341–350. Bibcode:2008NaPho...2..341A. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.94. ISSN 1749-4885.
* Avouris, Phaedon; Dimitrakopoulos, Christos (2012). "Graphene: synthesis and applications". Materials Today. 15 (3): 86–97. doi:10.1016/S1369-7021(12)70044-5.
* Xia, Fengnian; Yan, Hugen; Avouris, Phaedon (2013). "The Interaction of Light and Graphene: Basics, Devices, and Applications". Proceedings of the IEEE. 101 (7): 1717–1731. doi:10.1109/JPROC.2013.2250892. ISSN 0018-9219.
* Low, Tony; Avouris, Phaedon (31 January 2014). "Graphene Plasmonics for Terahertz to Mid-Infrared Applications". ACS Nano. 8 (2): 1086–1101. arXiv:1403.2799. doi:10.1021/nn406627u. ISSN 1936-0851. PMID 24484181.