Semiconductor and integrated circuit pioneer Michael Shur, the Patricia W. and C. Sheldon Roberts ’48 Chaired Professor in Solid State Electronics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named a fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS).

“Professor Shur is a world-leading, prolific, and inspiring researcher who throughout his career has continued to push forward the study and application of terahertz research, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology,” said Timothy Wei, acting dean of Rensselaer’s School of Engineering. “Michael brings insight, wisdom, and a creative spark to his vocation, and we applaud his prestigious election as a fellow of the MRS.”

The MRS will honor Shur on April 14-15 at the organization’s 2009 spring conference in San Francisco.

The MRS said it reserves the title of fellow to honor members who are “notable for their distinguished research accomplishments and their outstanding contributions to the advancement of materials research, world-wide.” 

Shur’s recent research efforts include new terahertz electronics and wide band gap semiconductor technologies. Other research interests include semiconductors and integrated circuits, with an emphasis on novel devices, high-power transistors, visible and ultraviolet light emitting diodes, acousto-optic devices, ballistic transport in semiconductors, plasma wave electronics devices, and electronics on flexible substrates. His research has wide-ranging applications in energy-saving solid-state lighting.

Shur is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), IEEE, Institute of Engineering Technology, American Physical Society, Electrochemical Society, Electromagnetic Academy, and World Innovation Foundation, as well as vice president of the IEEE Sensor Council, and a former chair of the U.S. Chapter of Commission D of the International Union of Radio Science. He was recently elected a foreign member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Shur has received numerous awards throughout his career, including an honorary doctorate from St. Petersburg State Technical University.

Widely active in academic publishing, he has served as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems, and is a member of the honorary editorial board of Solid State Electronics magazine. From 1990-93, he served as an associate editor of IEEE Transactions. 

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany, named Shur a Humboldt Research Award Winner in 2002. This prize supports his collaborative research in Germany at Walter Schottky Institute in Munich. 

Shur joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1996. He earned a doctorate in science (habilitation) and doctorate in physics from the A.F. Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology in St. Petersburg, Russia, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute.