<-- Return to the previous page

Praveen Chaudhari

Faculty Photo
Praveen Chaudhari
Professor
200 S.W. Mudd, Mail Code: 4701
New York, NY 10027

Phone: +1 212 854 4458
Email:


Research Specialty

Structure and properties of amorphous solids; mechanical properties of thin films; defects in solids; quantum transport in disordered systems; superconductivity; liquid crystals, photovoltaics, and magnetic monopole search


Biography

Praveen Chaudhari holds a B.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology, 1961, and both an M.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963 and 1966, respectively. In 1966, he joined IBM's Research Division, headquartered at the Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York. Chaudhari has had a productive 36-year career with IBM as a scientist and senior manager of research. He also served as the Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory from 2003-2006.

At IBM he was appointed Director, in 1981, and Vice-President of Science, in 1982. In this capacity, he was responsible for IBM's science programs not only at Watson, but also at the Almaden Research Center, in California, and at the Zurich Research Laboratory, in Switzerland. The science programs flourished during Chaudhari's management tenure in the IBM Research Division. Materials research, for example, became the basis of the $2-billion-a-year optical-disk industry. Also under Chaudhari's watch, IBM scientists captured Nobel Prizes in physics for two consecutive years, in 1986 for developing the scanning tunneling microscope, and then in 1987 for discovering high-temperature superconductivity in a new class of materials. During those later years, Chaudhari restarted his own research, working as both manager and hands-on scientist. In 1991, he returned full-time to research.

As a scientist, Chaudhari has worked on the structure and properties of amorphous solids, mechanical properties of thin films, defects in solids, quantum transport in disordered systems, superconductivity, liquid crystal alignment on substrates, and on the magnetic monopole experiment. He has published over a hundred and fifty technical papers, and holds over twenty patents.

For his achievements, Chaudhari has been honored with a number of awards. These include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award (1992) for "the discovery of amorphous magnetic films in magneto-optic data storage systems;" the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harry C. Gatos Distinguished Lecture and Prize (1994) in the field of electronic materials research; and the National Medal of Technology (1995) for "the discovery and development of a new class of materials -- the amorphous magnetic materials -- that are the basis of erasable, read-write, optical storage technology, now the foundation of the worldwide magnetic-optic disk industry." Chaudhari is also the recipient of the American Physical Society's George E. Pake Award (1987) for his personal contributions to science and science management, and of the Excellence Award of the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Physical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He currently serves on a number of professional committees, including the Physics Policy Committee of the American Physical Society, the Governing Board of the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee to the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (chairman), and the Scientific Advisory Council of the International Center for Theoretical Physics (chairman) in Trieste, Italy. Chaudhari co-chaired the National Research Council Study on Materials Science and Engineering, which was the basis of a Presidential initiative in advanced materials and processing programs, announced by the White House in January 1992.

Chaudhari was executive secretary of President Reagan's Advisory Council on Superconductivity (1988). He was a member of the National Commission on Superconductivity, which reported its findings to President Bush (1989). He served on the US National Critical Technologies Panel (1992 and 1993). In 1988, Chaudhari reported on science and technology to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India; in 1993, at the request of the Indian Minister for Sciences and Technology, he led an IBM group to evaluate India's parallel computer activities; and, in 1994, he made a presentation to Indian Prime Minister Rao on materials and critical technologies.

Books and US patents list

Publications list

POSITIONS HELD

  • Danish Atomic Energy Commission, Visiting Scientist, 1964
  • Research Associate at MIT, 1966
  • Joined IBM T.J. Watson Research Center as Research Staff Member in 1966. Promoted to manager in Physical Sciences Department in 1970. Various management positions in the seventies, including that of coordinating the magnetic bubble, optical recording, and Josephson technology programs in the physical sciences.
  • Visiting Faculty, Harvard University, Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, 1974
  • Acting Director of Physical Sciences Department, 1980
  • Director of Physical Sciences Department, 1981
  • Vice-president, Science, 1982-1991
  • Member of Corporate Technical Committee, 1989-1990
  • Founding Member of the IBM Academy of Technology, 1990-current
  • Research Staff Member, 1966-2003
  • Director, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 2003-2006

AFFILIATIONS (current)

  • Fellow, American Physical Society
  • Member, National Academy of Engineering
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Associate Fellow, Third World Academy of Sciences
  • Member-National Academy of Sciences

BOARDS, COMMITTEE AND PANEL MEMBERSHIP (1984 - current)

Industry

  • Member Science Advisory Board: Hoechst Celanese Corp. (1987-1993)
  • Member, Board of Directors: Long Island Association (2004 - 2006)
  • Consultant SION corp. 2006- current.

University

  • Member of the Advisory Committee to the National Sciences Association, University of Pennsylvania
  • Member of the Visiting Committee to the School of Engineering, University of Illinois
  • Member of the Corporation Visiting Committee to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
  • Member of the Visiting Committee to the Division of Physical Sciences, University of Chicago
  • Member of the Overseers' Committee to Visit the Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University.
  • Member of the Science Policy Board to Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford, California
  • Member of the Materials Science and Engineering Advisory Committee, University of California at Berkeley
  • Member-at-large of the New York State Institute of Superconductivity
  • Member of the ad hoc Visiting Committee, appointed by Provost, to examine the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, TX
  • Member of the Advisory Committee to the School of Engineering, Georgia Tech

Government Organizations

  • Member of the Steering Committee on "Management and Acquisition of Instrumentation at Universities" - sponsored by the Association of American Universities and Land Grant Colleges
  • Member of the Review Committee on "Microgravity Science" - sponsored by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Member of the Brookhaven National Laboratory Physics, ADD, AGS, NSLS, and Instrumentation Visiting Committee
  • Secretary to the US President's Advisory Council on Superconductivity
  • Member of the Solid State Sciences Committee of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Member of the US National Commission on Superconductivity
  • Vice Chair of the U.S. Liaison Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
  • Chairman of Commission C10 on the Structure and Dynamics of Condensed Matter for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
  • Member, Committee on "Physics for the Next Decade" sponsored by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Member, Committee on "Opportunities in Physics" sponsored by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Member of the Advisory Panel for "National Symposium on Advances in Materials" - sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering
  • Co-chairman of "National Materials Science and Engineering Study" - sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering
  • Member of the Awards Committee-Technology for the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations
  • Chair and Member-at-large of the US Liaison Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
  • Member of the ad hoc Materials Group of the Council on Competitiveness
  • Member of the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) of the National Research Council's Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications
  • Member of the International Advisory Committee of the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO) in collaboration with the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) to establish global network of research and training centers in high technology and environmental sciences in the South
  • Chairman of the International Center for Theoretical Physics Ad Hoc Committee to review the Center's activities for the period 1983-1993, Trieste, Italy
  • Member of the second National Critical Technologies Panel appointed by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Washington, DC
  • Member of the Governing Board of the New York Academy of Sciences

Professional Societies

  • The Electronics Materials Committee of the AIME
  • The Corporate Associates of the American Institute of Physics
  • The Mehl Award Committee of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME)
  • The Distinguished Lecture Award Committee of the AIME
  • Member of the Journal of Materials Research (JMR) Advisory Review Board
  • The George E. Pake Award Committee of the American Physical Society
  • Member-at-large of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics
  • Honorary Member of the Materials Research Society of India (MRSI)
  • Member of the Science Advisory Board of European Institute of Technology
  • Member of the Advisory Committee for 1992 International Stein Conference (October 1992) organized by Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
  • Member of the "Beyond the Material Age's" film board's executive committee
  • Member of the Advisory Committee for the First to the Ninth (1999) International Symposium on Superconductivity (ISS), held every year in Japan
  • Member of the International Conference Program Advisory Committee for the INTERMAG'93 Conference, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Member of the International Advisory Committee of M2S-HTSC (First to the Present International Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity High Temperature Superconductors)

AWARDS

  • Several IBM awards for his scientific contributions to the field of superlasticity, structure of grain boundaries, structure of amorphous solids, amorphous magnetic materials, high temperature superconductivity, and ion beam alignment of liquid crystals for displays
  • Leadership Award of the Metallurgical Society of AIME in 1986 for his scientific and technological contributions to the advancement of electronic materials
  • George E. Pake Prize of the American Physical Society in 1987 for his outstanding management in enhancing the role of basic research in the materials and processing science in the scientific and technological community at-large, and for his scientific insight and creativity in understanding the structure and properties of amorphous thin films and fine lines
  • IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award in 1992 for the discovery of amorphous magnetic films in magneto-optic data storage systems
  • Harry C. Gatos Distinguished Lecture and Prize of MIT (1994) for research in electronic materials
  • US National Medal of Technology (1995) for "the discovery and development of amorphous magnetic materials which made possible the erasable magneto-optic disk industry"
  • Holloman Award (2005) of Acta Materialla for his work on Materials Science and its impact on society