Costas Soukoulis, Ames Laboratory senior scientist and Iowa State University Frances M. Craig Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor, has been named as a 2018 National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow.

Soukoulis was chosen for induction having “demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.” 

“It is an honor to be named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors,” said Soukoulis, “and be recognized for your life’s work.”

Soukoulis’ research has focused on the development of a theoretical understanding of the properties of disordered systems, photonic crystals, metamaterials, left-handed materials, random lasers, random magnetic systems, nonlinear systems and amorphous semiconductors.

In addition to being an NAI Fellow, Soukoulis is also a fellow of the Optical Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. He has received the Descartes Prize for Research of Metamaterials, the Max Born Award, the Humboldt Research Award, the James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, the Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship, the Rolf Landauer Medal and numerous other awards from Iowa State University and the Department of Energy. His research has been among the most-cited work for the past four years according to Clarivate Analytics.

Soukoulis joins five other NAI Fellows affiliated with Iowa State or the Ames Laboratory: Iver Anderson, a senior metallurgist for the laboratory and an adjunct professor of materials science and engineering; Patrick Halbur, professor and chair of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine; Surya Mallapragada, associate vice president of research and Carol Vohs Johnson Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering; Max Rothschild, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Life Sciences and Ensminger Endowed Chair of International Agriculture; and Jonathan Wickert, senior vice president and provost.

The 2018 class of NAI Fellows will be inducted on April 11, 2019, during the NAI Annual Meeting at Space Center Houston in Houston.  Andrew H. Hirshfeld, U.S. Commissioner for Patents for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, will provide the keynote address for the ceremony. The complete list of NAI Fellows is available on the NAI website.

The National Academy of Inventors is a nonprofit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and nonprofit research institutes, with over 3,000 individual inventor members and fellows spanning more than 240 institutions. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society.

Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems.

DOE’s 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 science.energy.gov.

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