Tsu-Wei Chou, Unidel Pierre S. du Pont Chair of Engineering at the University of Delaware, has been selected to receive the 2017 Albert Sauveur Achievement Award from ASM International, a professional organization for materials scientists and engineers.

Chou was recognized for seminal theoretical and experimental work on the processing-microstructure-property relationship essential to the engineering of advanced fiber composites, nanocomposites, and energy storage devices.

The award, which was established in 1934, recognizes “pioneering materials science and engineering achievements that have stimulated organized work along similar lines to such an extent that a marked basic advance has been made in materials knowledge.”

The award presentation will be made at the MS&T ’17 - Materials Science and Technology Conference and Exhibition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

A composites pioneer who launched his career 47 years ago, Chou has worked with a wide variety of materials and geometries, including hybrid composites, textile structural composites, flexible composites, and most recently nanocomposites. He and his research team have demonstrated unique applications of carbon nanotube-based continuous fibers in multifunctional composites and energy storage devices.

In 2011, Times Higher Education ranked him 34th on its list of the top 100 materials scientists of the past decade.

Chou joined the UD faculty in 1969 and was a founding member of the Center for Composite Materials (CCM). In addition to his technical achievements, he is credited with pioneering and sustaining many of the international collaborations that have made CCM recognized throughout the world.

The author of some 350 journal articles and several books, Chou is editor-in-chief of Composites Science and Technology.

A fellow of six professional societies, he has received the Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, the Worcester Reed Warner Medal, and the Nadai Medal from ASME; the Distinguished Research Award from the American Society for Composites; and the Medal of Excellence in Composite Materials and the Francis Alison Award from the University of Delaware.

Born in Shanghai, China, Chou earned his undergraduate degree at National Taiwan University, his master’s at Northwestern University, and his doctorate at Stanford University.

He is an honorary professor of four universities in China, and he has lectured and conducted research at a number of institutions around the world, including Argonne National Laboratory, British Science Research Council, University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, National Commission for the Investigation of Space in Argentina, U.S. Office of Naval Research in London, German Aerospace Research Establishment, Tongji University in China, Tokyo Science University and Industrial Research Institute in Japan.

Chou joins other giants of modern engineering in winning this honor, including Geoffrey Taylor, a major figure in fluid dynamics; George Irwin, internationally known for his study of fracture mechanics; Merton Flemings, recognized for his expertise in metal forming; and Frank Spedding, a renowned expert on rare earth elements and on the extraction of metals from minerals.