Society needs novel materials to overcome challenges like pollution, climate change and poverty. Chemist Thuc-Quyen Nguyen aims to deliver, and her efforts have been noticed.

Nguyen, a professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has been honored with the de Gennes Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The society cited her “seminal contributions to the development of organic semiconducting materials and device physics of organic photovoltaics to mitigate climate change.” The award comes with a grant and an invitation to speak at universities across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Nguyen has also been awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal by the Wilhelm Exner Foundation of the Austrian Trade Association. The distinction recognizes an individual whose discoveries have “directly or indirectly promoted the economy in an outstanding way.”