The 2026 recipient of the FORTH/ICE-HT “Stratis V. Sotirchos Memorial Lectureship” is Dr. Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State University, USA.

Dr. Cheng will receive his award in a special ceremony during the 15th Panhellenic Chemical Engineering Scientific Conference on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at Chania, Crete and will deliver a lecture entitled “Standalone stretchable device platform for biomedicine”.

Prof. Huanyu “Larry” Cheng is the James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State University. His research group focuses on the design, fabrication, and application of the standalone stretchable device platform. Larry has co-authored more than 200 publications with total citations >29,700 according to Google Scholar. His work has been recognized through the reception of numerous awards, including Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field since 2023, Advanced Materials Rising Stars in 2024, International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (IJEM) Best Editor Award since 2022,  Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers in 2022, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Trailblazer Award in 2021, MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 (TR35 China) in 2021, Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2017. He also serves as the editor for Chemical Engineering Journal and many others, along with a reviewer for > 350 journals.

FORTH/ICE-HT created the “Stratis V. Sotirchos Memorial Lectureship” to honor the memory of one of its most distinguished Researchers, Professor Stratis V. Sotirchos, FORTH/ICE-HT Research Director. The awardee, younger than 40 years of age, is selected by a committee of internationally renowned scientists, on grounds of having produced original and fundamentally important results in chemical engineering sciences.

Previous Recipients of “Stratis Sotirchos Award”:

2024: Professor Ryan P. Lively, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

2022: Professor Fengqi You, Cornell University, USA

2019: Associate Professor Paul Dauenhauer, University of Minnesota, USA

2017: Associate Professor Hal Alper, The University of Texas at Austin, USA

2015: Professor Ali Khademhosseini, Harvard Medical School, USA

2013: Professor Michael S. Strano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

2011: Associate Professor Yiannis N. Kaznessis, University of Minnesota, USA

2009: Associate Professor Patrick S. Doyle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

2007: Professor Costas Maranas, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

2005: Professor Michalis Tsapatsis, University of Minnesota, USA

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