White receives Innovation Discovery Award

4/10/2013 Written by Susan Mumm

AE Prof. Scott R. White has been honored with the Innovation Discovery Award for his work in "self-healing" materials technology.

Written by Written by Susan Mumm

AE Prof. Scott R. White has been honored with the Innovation Discovery Award for his work in "self-healing" materials technology.

White was among 11 people recognized Feb. 27 during the annual Innovation Celebration that the Champaign County Economic Development Corp. and several University of Illinois groups sponsor. The awards are designed to encourage technological development in Champaign County, Illinois.

Known internationally as the father of "self-healing" technology, White and his colleagues focus on developing materials that repair themselves when damaged. His most recent breakthroughs have been in creating microvascular systems within materials so that they can regulate their own temperature, sense their environment, and adapt and configure on demand, as well as self-heal.

White founded Autonomic Materials Inc. in 2007 to develop industrial applications for the self-healing technologies.

A Donald Biggar Willett Professor of the College of Engineering, White has been a member of the AE faculty since 1990. He and his colleagues have earned many accolades for their self-healing research. Among the latest has been their inclusion in the SciAM 50 for 2007. This list, published in the January 2008 edition of Scientific American magazine, recognizes 50 individuals, teams, companies and other organizations whose accomplishments in research, business or policymaking during 2006-2007 demonstrate outstanding technological leadership.


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This story was published April 10, 2013.