Tobin J. Marks is Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Catalytic Chemistry, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering,  Professor of Applied Physics, and Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University, and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M Qatar University.

His research interests include transition metal and f element organometallic chemistry; catalysis; vibrational spectroscopy; synthetic facsimiles of metalloprotein active sites; carcinostatic metal complexes; solid state chemistry and low-dimensional molecular metals; nonlinear optical materials; polymer chemistry; tetrahydroborate coordination chemistry; macrocycle coordination chemistry; molecular electro-optics; metal-organic chemical vapor deposition; polymerization catalysis; printed flexible electronics; solar energy; and transparent conductors.

 

Professor Tobin Marks is a renowned figure in the fields of Catalytic Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Applied Physics. He received his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Maryland and his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from MIT. Professor Marks has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout his career, including the US National Medal of Science, the Spanish Asturias Prize, the MRS Von Hippel Award, the Dreyfus Chemical Sciences Prize, the NAS Chemical Sciences Award, the ACS Priestley Medal, the Israel Harvey Prize, and the German Chemical Society Ziegler Prize. He is a Fellow of the US, German, Italian, European, and Indian Academies of Sciences, the US National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the US National Academy of Inventors. He is also a Fellow of the UK RSC, ACS, Chinese, and Israel Chemical Societies, as well as a MRS Fellow. Professor Marks has received approximately 250 other awards and recognitions, and has authored over 1,500 peer-reviewed publications and 210 US patents. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from several universities, including HKUST, the University of South Carolina, Ohio State University, and the Technical University of Munich. Professor Marks is a prolific entrepreneur, having founded or co-founded 15 start-ups, and his technologies have generated an estimated USD100 billion in sales.

Peer-reviewed publications: 1,757; ISI h-index = 177 on 131,951 citations;

Google Scholar h-index = 197 and i10-index = 1320 on 169,250 citations.

 

Issued US Patents: 213

 

Education

1. B.S. University of Maryland, 1966
2. Ph.D Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1970

 

Major Awards (ACS = American Chemical Society; MRS = Materials Research Society)

1. U.S. National Medal of Science (highest scientific honor of the United States Government)
2. American Chemical Society Joseph Priestley Medal (highest honor of the American Chemical Society)
3. Camille and Henry Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences (the second award bestowed; first in catalysis)
4. Principe de Asturias Prize for Technical and Scientific Research (the Spanish Nobel Prize)
5. U.S. National Academy of Sciences Award in the Chemical Sciences
6. Materials Research Society Von Hippel Award (highest honor of the Materials Research Society)
7. Harvey Prize in Science and Technology, Harvey Foundation, Israel
8. Karl Ziegler Prize, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker
9. ACS Medals (8): Willard Gibbs, Linus Pauling, F. Albert Cotton, Theodore Richards, William Nichols, John Bailar, Harry Mosher, Alan McDiarmid
10. ACS National Awards (6): Organometallic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Chemistry of Materials, Somorjai in Creative Catalysis, Organic Chemistry Cope Scholar, Inorganic Chemistry Service.
11. Eminent Scientist Award, ACS Undergraduate Program
12. American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (highest honor of the American Institute of Chemists)
13. Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Centenary, William Frankland, Geoffrey Wilkinson, and Materials for Industry Medals/Awards
14. Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Distinguished Scientist Award (Einstein Award)
15. Honorary Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics
16. Italian Chemical Society: Paolo Chini and Luigi Sacconi Medals
17. North American Catalysis Society: Robert Burwell and Herman Pines Awards in Catalysis
18. Schulich Prize, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
19. Wilhelm Manchot Prize, Technical U. of Munich
20. Wang Yu Award, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (Premier Organic Chemistry Institute in China)
21. University of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Kasai, Top Scientist of the World Award
22. Research.com ranking of #3 Chemist in the US, #6 Chemist in the World
23. Turner Alfrey Prize in Polymer Chemistry, ACS Midland Michigan Section, Dow Chemical, Michigan State University

 

Other Awards

1. 2018 - 2024 Clarivate Citation Laureate
2. 2017 Johnson Award in Materials Science, Cornell University
3. 2016 Tannas Award in Materials Science, University of California, Los Angeles
4. 2016 Member, U.S. National Academy of Inventors
5. 2013 MacDiarmid Medal, University of Pennsylvania
6. 2013 Honorary Member, Israel Chemical Society
7. 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award and Circle of Discovery, University of Maryland
8. 2011 Member, Indian Academy of Sciences
9. 2010 Centennial Medal, University of Oviedo (Spain)
10. 2010 Distinguished Affiliated Professor Award, Technical University of Munich
11. 2009 Taylor Award in Materials Research, The Pennsylvania State University
12. 2009 Fellow, Materials Research Society
13. 2009 Honorary Fellow, Chemical Research Society of India
14. 2005 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry UK
15. 2005 U. of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame
16. 2003 Evans Medal, Ohio State University
17. 1998 Phillips Award, University of Pittsburgh
18. 1989-1990 Guggenheim Fellow
19. 1986 -987 Mack Awardee and Lecturer, Ohio State University
20. 1984 Sobral Medal, Portuguese Chemical Society
21. 1984 ACS Doolittle Award in Polymeric Materials
22. 1979 Fresenius Pure and Applied Chemistry Award
23. 1978 Innovation Recognition Award, Union Carbide Corp
24. 1977 DuPont Young Faculty Fellow
25. 1975 Dreyfus Teacher Scholar
26. 1974 Sloan Fellow

 

Fellowships/Honorary Memberships

1. U.S. National Academy of Sciences
2. American Philosophical Society
3. American Academy of Arts and Sciences
4. Leopoldina, German National Academy of Natural Sciences
5. U.S. National Academy of Engineering
6. Foreign Member, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italian National Academy of Sciences)
7. Foreign Member, European Academy of Sciences
8. Foreign Member, Indian National Academy of Sciences
9. U.S. National Academy of Inventors
10. Fellow, ACS
11. Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry UK
12. Fellow, Materials Research Society
13. Fellow, Chemical Research Society of India
14. Honorary Fellow, Israel Chemical Society
15. Honorary Foreign Fellow, Chinese Chemical Society
16. Lifetime Fellow, American Institute of Chemists

 

Named Lectureships and Visiting Professorships

1. 2024 Inaugural Richard Smalley Lecturer, Rice University
2. 2024 L.K. Doraiswamy Lecturer, Iowa State University
3. 2022 James McGrath Memorial Lecture, International Advances in Polyolefins Symposium
4. 2020 Lee Memorial Lectures, University of Chicago
5. 2019 Advanced Materials Sparkling Lecture, Nanjing Institute of Technology
6. 2018 Dow Lecturer, Stanford University
7. 2018 Arduengo Lecturer, University of Alabama
8. 2018 COPE Distinguished Lecturer, Georgia Institute of Technology
9. 2018 Inaugural Sigma-Aldrich Lecturer in Materials Chemistry, University of California Santa Barbara
10. 2018 Annual Grubbs Lecturer, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology
11. 2017 Parry Lecture, The University of Utah
12. 2017 Johnson Lecturer in Materials Science, Cornell University
13. 2017 Inaugural Sigma-Aldrich Lecturer in Materials Chemistry, University of California Santa Barbara
14. 2016 Zhang Dayu Lecturer, Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Chemical Physics 
15. 2016 McElvain Academic Lecturer, University of Wisconsin Madison
16. 2016 Science at the Cutting Edge Lecturer, Michigan State University
17. 2016 ECS Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, University of Texas Dallas
18. 2016 Munib and Angela Masri Distinguished Lecturer, American University of Beirut 
19. 2016 Oryx Lecturer, Texas A&M Qatar
20. 2015 Stone Lecturer, University of Bristol, UK
21. 2015 Annual Center for Plastic Electronics Lecturer, Imperial College London
22. 2015 Eyring Lecturer, Arizona State University
23. 2015 Bergman Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley
24. 2015 Texas Distinguished Faculty Lectureship, University of Texas Austin
25. 2015 Bergman Lecturer, University of Calfornia, Berkeley
26. 2015 Eyring Lecturer, Arizona State University
27. 2015 Annual Center for Plastic Electronics Lecturer, Imperial College London
28. 2014 University of Gerogia, King Lecturer
29. 2014 Distinguished Clean Energy Lecturer, University of Washington
30. 2014 Frontiers in Molecular Sciences Lecturer, Chinese Academy of Sciences
31. 2014 Xingda Lecturer, Peking University
32. 2014 Rausch Lecturer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
33. 2013 Bayer Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh 
34. 2013 Bayer Lecturer, Cornell University
35. 2012 Inaugural 3 MET Lecturer, University of Kaiserslautern
36. 2012 Johnson Lecturer, Stanford University
37. 2012 Karcher-Barton Lecturer, University of Oklahoma
38. 2011 Distinguished International Lecturer, Institute for Advanced Study, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
39. 2011 Shore Lecturer, Ohio State University
40. 2011 Distinguised Visiting Professor, Weizmann Institute of Science
41. 2010 Schaeffer Lecturer, University of New Mexico
42. 2010 Jones Lecturer, Queens University (Ontario)
43. 2010 Second Semana de la Ciencia y la Innovation Plenary Lecturer, Mexico City
44. 2010 Abelson Lecturer, Washington State University
45. 2010 Kilpatrick Lecturer, Illinois Institute of Technology
46. 2009 First Semana de la Ciencia y la Innovation Plenary Lecturer, Mexico City
47. 2009 Center Bangalore, India
48. 2009 First International Materials Science Lecturer, International Centre for Materials Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru
49. 2009 Director's Distinguished Lecturer, U.S. National Science Foundation
50. 2009 Chevron-Phillips Lecturer, Virginia Tech
51. 2009 Dawson Lecturer, University of Kentuck
52. 2009 Frontiers in Chemistry Lecturer, Wayne State U
53. 2008 Crano Lecturer, University of Akron
54. 2008 MacLean Lecturer, McMaster University
55. 2008 Whelan Lecturer, University of Texas El Paso
56. 2008 Butler Lecturer, University of Florida
57. Davis Lecturer, Unviersity of South Carolina
58. 2007 Boulder Scientific Lecturer, Colrado State U
59. 2006 Jortner Lecturer, Tel Aviv University
60. 2006 Gomberg Lecturer, University of Michigan
61. 2005 Abbott Lecturer, Montana State University
62. 2005 Otto M. Smith Lecturer, Oklahoma State University
63. 2005 Alumni Distringuished Lecturer, Michigan State University
64. 2005 UNIVERSITY Pierre et Marie Curie Institut Universitaire de France Professor
65. 2004 H.B. Jonassen Lecturer, Tulane U. 
66. 2003 Milkovich Lecturer, University of Akron
67. 2003 Walton Lecturer, Purdue University
68. 2003 Arthur D. Little Lecturer, MIT
69. 2002 Bigeleisen Lecturer, SUNY Stony Brook
70. 2001 Renowned International Visiting Scholar, Hong Kong, Polytechnical University
71. 2000 McElvain Lecturer, University of Wisconsin
72. 1999 Convention Intercantonale Romande Lecturer, Switzerland
73. 1999 Marcus Lecturer, Washington University
74. 1999 Abbott Lecturer, University of North Dakota
75. 1998 Closs Lecturer, University of Chicago
76. 1998 Seaborg Lecturer, University of California Berkeley
77. 1997 Siedle Lecturer, Indiana University
78. 1996 Kilpatrick Lecturer, Illinois Institute of Technology
79. 1996 Xerox of Canada Distinguished Lecturer (University of British Columbia; Victoria U) 
80. 1996 H.C. Brown Lecturer, Purdue University
81. 1996 Musher Lecture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
82. 1995 Fishel Lecturer, Vanderbilt University
83. 1995 Lind Lecturer, University of Tennessee- Oak Ridge Nat. Lab.
84. 1995 Gooch-Stephens Lecturer, Baylor University
85. 1994 Stieglitz Lecturer, University of Chicago- Chicago ACS Section
86. 1994 Japan Society of Organic Chemistry Lectureship
87. 1994 E.F. Smith Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania
88. 1994 W.R. Grace Lecturer, University of Maryland
89. 1993 ICI Distingiushed Lecturer, University of Calgary
90. 1993 Purves Lecturer, McGill University
91. 1993 Hill Lecturer, Duke University
92. 1993 Karcher Lecturer, University of Oklahoma
93. 1992 National Science Council of Taiwan Lecturer
94. 1992 Gordon Lecturer, University of Toronto
95. 1991 RIKEN Frontier Research Program Visiting Scientist (Japan)
96. 1990 Dow Lecturer, Boston College
97. 1990 Roberts Lecturer, Grinnell College
98. 1989 Graduiertenkolleg Lecturer, Technical U./Free University of Berlin
99. 1988 Frontiers in Chemistry Lecturer, Texas A&M University
100. 1988 ESSO Lecturer, University of Toronto
101. 1988 Kolthoff Lecturer, University of Minnesota
102. 1987 Tables Rondes Roussel-Uclaf Lecturer, Paris
103. 1987 Merck-Frosst Lecturer, University of British Columbia
104. 1987 Boomer Lecturer, University of Alberta
105. 1986-1987 Phi Lambda Upsilon Lecturer, University of Nebraska
106. 1986 SACS Lecturer, University of South Carolina
107. 1986 Asher Visiting Lecturer, Technion Israel
108. 1986 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, University of Hawaii
109. 1984-1985 Reilly Lecturer, University of Notre Dame
110. 1984 Lemieux Lecturer, University of Ottawa
111. 1981 Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Western Ontario
112. 1980 President Lecturer, Technical University of Berlin
113. 1980 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin

 

Current or Past Editorial and Advisory Board

Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry; Inorganic Syntheses; Organometallics; Inorganica Chimica Acta; Polyhedron; Polymer; Progress in Inorganic Chemistry; Chemical Communications; Accounts of Chemical Research;Journal of Molecular Catalysis; Topics in Organometallic Chemistry; Catalysis Letters; Actinide and Lanthanide Reviewer for Annual Surveys of Organometallic Chemistry; Topics in Catalysis; Nouveau Journal de Chimie/New Journal of Chemistry; Chemistry of Materials; Advanced Materials, CVD; Oxford Monographs on the Physics and Chemistry of Materials; Crystal Engineering Communications; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; MRS Communications; Organic Photonics and Photovoltaics; Journal of Organometallic Chemistry.

Governing Council, Gordon Research Conferences; External Advisory Committee, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois; 

 

Companies Founded

Printed Flexible Electronics: Polyera Inc., in Skokie IL (Headquarters), Milan Italy (Quality Control Center),  Hsinchu Taiwan (Applications Center); currently 45 employees.  Name changed to Flexterra Inc. in 2/2017 for business focus.
Polymer Recycling: Penguin Chemical Co. in Evanston IL; NylaNova in Evanston IL.

 

Current or Past Corporate Private Sector Advisory Boards

Scientific Advisory Boards - Conductimer Corp.; Nanovation Technologies, Inc.; Precursor Energetics, Inc.
Technical Advisory Boards - Dow Corning Corp.; Dow Chemical Co.; Ophthonix, Inc.; OrganicID, Inc.; Dynamic Connections, Inc.; ASySET Inc.; Celluranics, Inc.; Penguin Inc.; NylaNova Inc.

 

Synergistic Activities

Co-Chair Gordon Research Conference on Hybrid Electronic and Photonic Materials (Hong Kong); Co-author, NSF-ONR report, Opportunities in Organic Photovoltaics; Co-author & US-NSF Coordinator, CS3 report, Chemistry for a Sustainable Global Society; Co-author, NSF-ONR report, Hybrid Flexible Electronics Research in Europe; Co-author, DOE-BESAC report, Directing Matter and Energy: Five Challenges for Science and the Imagination; ACS Project SEED--chemistry summer camps for low-income middle and high school students. NSF, DOE, and DoD panels; NAE Peer Review Committee.