Anna C. Balazs, a distinguished professor in the Swanson School of Engineering, is among 120 newly elected members to the National Academy of Sciences, which recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Balazs, who also holds the John A. Swanson Chair of Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, is internationally recognized for her theoretical and computational modeling of polymers. For the past decade, her research has focused on mimicking biological processes in polymeric materials which could contribute to the advancement of soft robotics or “squishy robots.”
“Throughout her career, Anna has advanced the field of materials and computational modeling, and we are so proud that the National Academy of Sciences has bestowed her with this honor,” said James R. Martin II, dean of Engineering. “Her research has built the foundation for future materials and their use in ways that even only a decade ago were science fiction.”
Balazs, a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Materials Research Society, has also received some of the leading awards in her field, including the Royal Society of Chemistry S F Boys – A Rahman Award (2015), the American Chemical Society Langmuir Lecture Award (2014), and the Mines Medal from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (2013). In 2106, she was the first woman to receive the prestigious Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society.