Awards, honors and fellowships

Prof. Moungi Bawendi, one of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, speaks with Lisa Mullins of WBUR’s All Things Considered. “It's a lot of hard work, a lot of perseverance, and sometimes, you know, you'll work for a few years without seeing any results at all. And then the results come maybe just in a few weeks, and suddenly it happens,” says Bawendi of his advice to students on dealing with progress and failures in their research. “Believing in the end point and just, you know, when things don't work, learning how to solve problems and go maybe a little slightly different direction."

Prof. Mougni Bawendi is one of three scientists who has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with quantum dots, reports Sam Turken for GBH. “Bawendi said that when he first started working with quantum dots, he wasn’t thinking of the potential uses for them,” writes Turken. “He merely wanted to study them, but in order to do that, he had to create dots that were of high quality. Once he did that, their benefits became more clear.”

Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman and John R. Ellement spotlight Prof. Moungi Bawendi, one of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his work in the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots, “tiny particles used in an array of technologies.” Bawendi noted that he was “deeply honored and surprised and shocked” to receive a Nobel Prize. He added that MIT is, “just a different place in the world. And I’m so grateful that MIT supported me through my career all these years.”

Prof. Moungi Bawendi was selected as one of three recipients of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for contributions to the field of quantum dots and nanotechnology, report David Keyton, Mike Corder and Christina Larson for the Associated Press. “The motivation really is the basic science. A basic understanding, the curiosity of how does the world work?” says Bawendi. “And that’s what drives scientists and academic scientists to do what they do.”

Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson spotlights Prof. Moungi Bawendi, one of the recipients of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his work in the production and advancement of quantum dots. Cookson notes that Bawendi “revolutionized the chemical production of quantum dots, resulting in the development of particles suitable for practical applications.”

Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been named one of three winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots, tiny particles that have fueled innovations in nanotechnology from televisions to mapping different tissues in the body,” reports Andrew Joseph for STAT. “Bawendi invented a method for making the dots with high-quality consistency,” explains Joseph.

Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the discovery and development of quantum dots, reports Emma Bubola and Katrina Miller for The New York Times. Prof. William Tisdale described Bawendi’s prizewinning results as a “key enabling advance, after which the field of quantum dots exploded.” 

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Prof. Moungi Bawendi, Prof. Louis Brus of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., for their work in the discovery and development of quantum dots, reports Christian Edwards, Katie Hunt and Ed Upright for CNN. Bawendi “changed the chemical production of quantum dots, resulting in what the [Nobel] committee called ‘almost perfect particles,’” they write. “This development allowed dots to be used in applications.”

Science reporter Daniel Clery spotlights Prof. Moungi Bawendi, one of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the advancement of quantum dots. “The process devised by Bawendi’s team led to the wide commercialization of quantum dots, with many companies competing to produce nanocrystals cheaply,” writes Clery.

Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “fundamental discoveries in nanotechnology, particles once considered impossibly small to make,” reports Mark Johnson for The Washington Post. “In 1993, Moungi revolutionized the process, devising a way to create ‘seed,’ or beginner particles that could then be carefully controlled using temperature,” writes Johnson. “The method allowed him to stop the process to achieve particles of just the right size and quality.”

Prof. Moungi Bawendi has been named one of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the study and development of quantum dots, “tiny molecules that interact with light in unusual ways,” reports Katharine Sanderson for Nature. “I didn’t think it would be me that would get this prize because we’re all working together on this,” says Bawendi. “There’s still a lot of exciting work to be done in this field.”

Prof. Moungi Bawendi, Prof. Louis Brus of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in the development of quantum dots, which are “now used to create color in flat screens, light emitting diode (LED) lamps and devices that help surgeons see blood vessels in tumors,” reports Niklas Pollard and Ludwig Burger for Reuters. “In 1993, Bawendi revolutionized the production of quantum dots, made up of clusters ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand atoms,” writes Pollard and Burger.

Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, a Schmidt Science Fellow in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, writes for Times Higher Education about the need to eliminate barriers between different academic disciplines. “More work needs to be done to support interdisciplinary researchers more generally,” writes Cao. “The lack of funding, incentives and community support holds back the scientific breakthroughs they could otherwise be making.”

MIT Innovation Fellow Brian Deese speaks with Financial Times reporter Gideon Rachman to explain Bidenomics and how it is impacting the economy. “I think the term [Bidenomics] has taken on a lot of different elements,” says Deese. “To me, it’s a description of what are the three core economic policy priorities of the Biden administration that have played out over the course the last two years.”

STAT reporter Annalisa Merelli writes that the 2023 Lasker Award has been given to Prof. James Fujimoto, research affiliate Eric Swanson SM ’84 and David Huang PhD ’93 for their work advancing the diagnosis of eye disease. Fujimoto, Swanson and Huang developed “optical coherence tomography (OCT) — the first noninvasive technology allowing doctors to see high-resolution images of the retina.”