Robert Macfarlane, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), has won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
The PECASE is awarded to scientists and engineers “who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers.” The latest recipients were announced by the White House on January 14 under President Joe Biden.
Macfarlane’s research focuses on making new materials using molecular and nanoscale building blocks. His lab specializes in self-assembly, nanotechnology, and supramolecular chemistry, designing components so small that they are invisible to the naked eye, yet can spontaneously arrange themselves into complex patterns, forming objects large enough to pick up by hand. His work has led to advancements in additive manufacturing, adhesives and coatings, and structural and optical materials.
“That’s really where our impact is—understanding how to build materials from trillions of building blocks that can self-organize,” Macfarlane said. “We’ve developed methods that scale up what are typically benchtop curiosities, enabling new materials for practical technologies. To do this, we’ve developed new scientific principles to understand how these tiny components interact as they form larger structures.”
Nominated by the Department of Defense’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Macfarlane is among 400 scientists and engineers recognized for the award. He is also among the 11 MIT faculty members honored, including nine from the School of Engineering. Several MIT alumni were also on the list, including DMSE’s Ismaila Dabo PhD ’08, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and David Isaacson PhD ’06, AF ’16, director of the Office of Strategic Intelligence and Analysis in the Department of Defense’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Macfarlane joined the DMSE faculty in 2015. His work has been recognized by multiple awards, including the Unilever Award for Outstanding Young Investigator in Colloid and Surfactant Science, a Young Investigator Award by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Faculty Early Career Development Award by the National Science Foundation. In 2023, Macfarlane received Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative funding to create advanced materials using additive manufacturing and nanoparticle building blocks.
The PECASE was established in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. DMSE’s Professor Christine Ortiz received the award in 2001, and Associate Professor Jim LeBeau won it in 2019.