Eric Dufresne named APS Fellow

Eric Dufresne, visiting professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and in the Department of Physics at Cornell University, has been elected a 2022 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).

APS fellowships honor APS members who have made advances in physics through original research and publication, or made significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology.

“The APS has been my intellectual home throughout my career. It’s a great honor that my peers have selected me for this recognition,” Dufresne said.

Dufresne, who was recommended for the fellowship by the American Physical Society’s Division of Soft Matter, develops new approaches to control the structure and properties of soft materials, inspired by living systems. He works closely with biologists to study how living organisms make materials, and aims to develop new synthetic materials using the same design principles. Applications for his research include biomedical and industrial applications, such as sustainable adhesives and pigments.

APS recognized Dufresne “for fundamental insights into the physics of diverse colloidal, polymeric, and biological systems, and the development of experimental methodologies to make, measure, and manipulate these materials.”

Dufresne will fully join Cornell’s faculty in 2023, and received the fellowship based on his work at his current institution, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, and his previous institution, Yale University, where he was a professor and director of Yale's Center for Engineering Innovation and Design.