Rogers elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

John A. Rogers, a Swanlund Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the longest-standing honorary societies in the nation.

Rogers is the director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory and an affiliate of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois. He also holds affiliate appointments in the departments of bioengineering, chemistry, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical science and engineering.

With his research teams, Rogers has pioneered flexible, stretchable electronics, creating pliable products such as cameras with curved retinas, medical monitors in the form of temporary tattoos, a soft sock that can wrap an arrhythmic heart in electronic sensors, and LED strips thin enough to be implanted directly into the brain to illuminate neural pathways. His work in photovoltaics serves as the basis for commercial modules that hold the current world record in conversion efficiency.

His most notable honors include the 2013 American Ingenuity Award in physical sciences from Smithsonian Magazine; a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Fellowship" (2009); and  Lemelson-MIT Prize (2011). He has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering and has been named a fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Rogers is one of three University of Illinois professors have been elected to the Academy this year. Tere R. O’Connor, a professor of dance, and Wilfred A. van der Donk, the Richard E. Heckert Endowed Chair in chemistry, will join Rogers and the other new members in an induction ceremony in October at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.