Newswise — OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2017 -- Two researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sergei Kalinin and Mariappan Parans Paranthaman, have been elected fellows of the Materials Research Society (MRS).

The professional society, which limits fellows to 0.2 percent of the MRS membership, is dedicated to the worldwide advancement of materials research.

Kalinin is director of ORNL's Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials and a distinguished staff member at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, and is an adjunct associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is cited for "pioneering contributions to the understanding of nanoscale ferroelectric, transport, and electrochemical phenomena in complex oxides through the development of scanning probes techniques." At ORNL Kalinin develops novel scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques to measure and control local structure and properties of materials. Kalinin studies electromechanical and transport phenomena in functional oxides and molecular systems and applications of big, deep, and smart data methods for physical imaging. His accomplishments include a 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a Royal Microscopical Society Medal for SPM and three R&D 100 awards. He has authored more than 500 publications and over 15 patents on various aspects of SPM. Kalinin joined ORNL in 2002 as a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry and materials science from Moscow State University and a doctoral degree in materials science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paranthaman, a distinguished research staff member and leader of the Materials Chemistry group of ORNL's Chemical Sciences Division, was cited for "pioneering contributions to materials chemistry, including research, development, and commercialization of materials for superconductors, solar cells, and energy storage; and for exceptional service to the materials community."

Paranthaman also serves on the faculty for the University of Tennessee's Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education. His current research focuses on the critical materials research related to additive manufacturing of permanent magnets and lithium separation from geothermal brine, electrode materials for battery applications, polymer composite films and synthesis of neutron scintillator materials for the Spallation Neutron Source Second Target Station.

An author or co-author of more than 400 publications with a google scholar h-index of 58, 35 issued US patents, and six R&D 100 awards; Paranthaman is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASM International, the American Ceramic Society and the Institute of Physics, London, UK. He received his doctorate in solid-state chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1988.

Kalinin and Paranthaman will be honored at the professional society's annual meeting in April.

The Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and the Spallation Neutron Source are DOE Office of Science User Facilities.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.

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Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/Kalinin200_0.jpg

Cutline: Sergei Kalinin

Image: https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/parans200.jpg

Cutline: Mariappan Parans Paranthaman

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