Researcher and scholar Michael Solomon, associate professor of chemical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering, is known as a passionate teacher and mentor and a cherished colleague. He has established a world-recognized laboratory for the study of complex fluids and is one of the leaders of a new generation of chemical engineering faculty who are using advances on confocal microscopy, as well as other state-of-the-art methods in scattering, to reveal the microstructure and dynamics of colloidal materials in real space.
Solomon has made pivotal contributions to both the science and technology of colloids and soft materials. His accomplishments include answering 40-year-old scientific puzzles, providing unexpected mechanistic explanations for commonly observed phenomena and overcoming technological barriers that frustrate commercialization of new products. He has been a pioneer in the application of the life science method of confocal microscopy to address research problems in chemical engineering and materials science. By this advanced experimental method, Solomon has made key fundamental discoveries about how the structure of soft matter responds to applied fields such as flow.
Recognition for Solomon's scholarly research has included invitations to deliver keynote lectures at international meetings and articles published in premier journals. Since 1996 he has published 44 peer-reviewed papers that have been cited more than 750 times. In addition to receiving the College of Engineering's 1938E Award and 3M's Non-tenured Faculty Award, he has received the Henry Russel Award and the NSF CAREER Award.
Solomon has promoted student learning through an active teaching style that directly engages individual students, even in large lectures. He has developed new core and elective course content that incorporates the tools of statistical analysis and molecular stimulation. His effective teaching style was acknowledged by his receipt of the 2006 ASEE Outstanding Professor of the Year Award. Many students have called him "the best teacher I've ever had." His success in graduate student mentoring is evidenced by his students' postgraduate placement. Of his 13 doctoral students, eight have joined companies or start-ups, two are pursuing post-doctoral fellowships, and three are currently assistant professors at U.S. or international universities.
Article appeared in the October 6, 2008 issue of The University Record