Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese-American scientist Nguyen Thuc Quyen hasrecently been awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal 2023 for her valuablecontributions directly impacting the future economy through the development oforganic solar cells.
She isthe first Vietnamese-origin person to be nominated and receive this prestigiousaward from the Austria Trade Associations.
TheWilhelm Exner Award 2023 honours researchers who have directly influencedbusinesses and industries through their scientific achievements andcontributions. The award ceremony took place in the capital city of Vienna,Austria. Over the past more than 100 years, 241 scientists and inventors,including 23 Nobel laureates, have been honoured with this award.
As Director of the Centre for Polymers and Organic Solids (CPOS),Prof. Quyen has been involved in research and teaching at the University of California’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since2004. She conducts research on organic electronic devices suchas optoelectronics, LED lights and field-effect transistor-based biosensor,using optical,electrical, and structural techniques to study the materials and devices inthis field.
Thefocus of her research is on the development of organic solar cells whichdiffer from other types that are made from plastics, semi-transparent, and can be easily produced asthin films using industrial printing methods.
According to the Wilhelm Exner Medal Foundation, solar cells are more eco-friendly, cost-effective, and can be appliedin various cases.
Prof.Quyen is among 1% of material science researchers cited worldwide, asreported by Reuters news agency and Clarivate Analytics. In 2023, she waselected to the National Academy of Engineering in the US.
Throughouther scientific career, she also received numerous esteemed awards, including the Avenue ofFame for Advanced Materials in 2019, the Royal Society of Chemistry ResearcherAward in 2016, the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 2015, and wasincluded in the list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2015-2019.She has also been a member of the American Association for the Advancement ofScience since 2019./.