Dr Vikram Deshpande and Dr Florin Udrea have each been awarded a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize in recognition of their research achievements. The prizes are worth £50,000 each and are to support research over a two-year period.
Dr Deshpande has made outstanding contributions in the general area of micromechanics of materials. He has developed a simple way of describing the complex elastic-plastic behaviour of industrially important metal foams, and he is an international authority on the new class of "lattice materials". He has also made major contributions in predicting the growth of fatigue cracks, and in understanding the macroscopic behaviour of metals on account of the generation and motion of individual dislocations.
Dr Florin Udrea has an international reputation in the area of power semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. This area of electronics accounts for around 15% of all semiconductor and integrated circuit products worldwide. His most impressive impact has been in high voltage devices and smart sensors research which would have a role in pollution monitoring and sustainable technology. His aim is to develop 'saving energy' semiconductor devices which not only would have a practical impact on energy reduction strategies in Europe and the development of more clean technologies, but also would make for more efficient devices used by everyone in home and office. He has published a prodigious number of clearly accessible publications, and also has 18 patents for distinctive inventions.
In all 25 prizes were awarded by the Leverhulme Trustees with five each in the disciplines of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Classics, Engineering, Geography, and Philosophy and Ethics. The University of Cambridge has three prize winners and two are from our Engineering Department.
