Daniel Gall, a professor of materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has received the 2021 Bill Sproul Award and Honorary International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF) Lectureship Award from the American Vacuum Society (AVS).

This award recognizes outstanding scientific and/or technological contributions, with an emphasis in the fields of surface engineering, thin films, and related topics. Gall receives this honor “for seminal contributions to furthering the understanding of thin film growth of transition metal nitrides and their electronic, optical, mechanical, and tribological properties.”

Gall’s research focuses on an understanding — at the atomic level — of thin film growth and the electronic and optical properties of materials. He has served in many positions within the Advanced Surface Engineering Division, ICMCTF, and AVS. Gall is a fellow of the AVS, and has won numerous awards from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Rensselaer, and IBM for his work on transition metal nitrides and on high-conductivity interconnects.

Gall will present research titled “Transition Metal Nitride Layers: New Phases and New Properties” on April 26, 2021 at the ICMCTF.