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Christopher Soles (Fed)
Supervisory Materials Research Engineer
Short Biography
Dr. Christopher L. Soles is a Materials Research Engineer in the Materials Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He leads the Functional Polymers Group which focuses on addressing difficult measurement challenges related to the use of polymeric materials in composites, membranes and sorbents, and impact mitigation. Throughout his career, Dr. Soles has made significant contributions in technology sectors that include semiconductor electronics, printed and flexible electronics, membranes for ion transport and water filtration, batteries, structural composites, and improved materials for impact mitigation. His expertise in these areas focuses on elucidating the interplay between the structure, dynamics and processing of a polymeric material and how this in-turn affects the critical materials function that enables these technology sectors. He received Bachelor of Science degrees in both Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) in 1993, and then his Ph D in MSE in 1998, all from the University of Michigan. Go Blue! He came to the Polymers Division of NIST in 1999 as an NRC Postdoctoral Fellow and has led the Functional Polymers Group at NIST since 2007. He has published over 175 peer-reviewed publications, received several prestigious and National awards, including a first-place finish in the 1st Annual Run for Health 5K race at the American Physical Society March Meeting (1988, aka, fastest physicist in America). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2011), the American Chemical Society (2016) and was recently elected Councilor (2023-2025) of the American Chemical Society.
Research Opportunities
Professional Affiliations
- American Physical Society (DPOLY, DSOFT)
- Materials Research Society
- American Chemical Society (PMSE, POLY)
Professional Networking
Awards
- University of Michigan, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Distinguished Alumni Lecture Award (2023)
- ACS Team Innovation Award (V. Prabhu, C. Soles, E. Lin, W.-l. Wu) (2019)
- Past Chair Award, Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering Division, American Chemical Society (2018)
- Keynote Lecture, 1st Pan-American Polymer Conference, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2017)
- Fellow, American Chemical Society (2016)
- Fellow, American Physical Society (2011)
- Arthur S. Flemming Award (2010)
- United States Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award (2008)
- National Academy of Science Delegate, Japan-US Frontiers of Science, Kanagawa, Japan (2007)
- Plenary Lecture, Nanoprint & Nanoimprint Technology Conference, Paris, France (2007)
- Invited Speaker, Polymers West Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA (2007)
- United States Department of Commerce Silver Medal Award (2006)
- United States Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award (2006)
- Presidential Early Career Award for Science & Engineering (2006)
- National Academy of Engineering Delegate, Indo-US Frontiers of Engineering, Agra, India (2006)
- Keynote Lecture, Semiconductor International Nanoimprint Lithography Webcast (2005)
- National Academy of Engineering Delegate, Frontiers of Engineering, Irvine, CA (2004)
- NIST Sigma Xi Best Poster (2002)
- NIST NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (1999)