IES Silver Medal

 

2021 IES Silver Medal for Instrumentation / Methods

Prof. Stefan Stoll has been awarded the 2021 IES Silver Medal for Instrumentation / Methods and we are delighted that he chose to receive this award at the 2022 RSC ESR group meeting. The citation for the award is below.

Professor Stefan Stoll is hereby recognized for his seminal contributions to computational EPR spectroscopy and analysis. As a graduate student, Professor Stoll conceived of and initiated the development of the first generally applicable package for simulating and fitting EPR data. The result, EasySpin, enjoys continued expansion and is now a mainstay of the field of EPR and an essential tool used by virtually all modern EPR laboratories around the world. Remarkably, Professor Stoll has invested significant effort and resources into making EasySpin a freely available and accessible tool, while he continues to contribute to dissemination of this important software tool through regular and ongoing training workshops for spectroscopists of all backgrounds, as well as regular and continued upgrades to the software packet. Professor Stoll continues to make new and innovative contributions to the field of EPR methods. Recently, he developed new theoretical tools based on Bayesian statistics for bringing rigor to the analysis of DEER experiments. Professor Stoll’s ongoing research, along with his development of EasySpin, set a standard of high-quality science and leadership fully befitting the IES Silver Medal.

 

2022 IES Silver Medal in Physics / Materials

Prof. Marina Bennati has been awarded the 2022 IES Silver Medal in Physics/Materials and we are delighted that she chose to receive this award at the 2022 RSC ESR group meeting. The citation for the award is below.

Prof. Marina Bennati is awarded the IES Silver Medal in Physics 2022 for her fundamental contributions to advance the physics of electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and liquid-state dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) spectroscopy at high magnetic fields, and their application for the study of paramagnetic molecular systems. Both ENDOR and DNP tools rely on exploiting the hyperfine interactions between the paramagnetic centers and the nuclear spins in their vicinity. Bennati pioneered cross-polarization ENDOR pulse sequences and statistical data analysis methods to achieve, among others, 17O detection of water participating in the proton-coupled electron transfer and 19F ENDOR to measure inter spin distance in the angstrom to nanometer range. Her group designed paramagnetic agents with optimized electron-nuclear cross relaxation rates to achieve significant DNP effects in the liquid state at high magnetic fields—the holy grail of hyperpolarization. Her contributions to the field include also the dissemination of ENDOR in the quasi-optical regime (263 GHz/9.4 T) for routine usage. Bennati has made a significant impact on the field of EPR through her contribution to advancing the physics of hyperfine EPR and DNP spectroscopic tools, as well as through her leadership to enhancing the visibility of the EPR community. The International EPR (ESR) Society is proud to honor Professor Marina Bennati for her distinguished contributions to the society.