Consulate-General of Japan in Houston

On January 30, 2013, the Japan Prize Foundation announced the winners of the 2013 Japan Prize, one of the most prestigious, international awards in science and technology. C. Grant Willson, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, and Jean M.J. Frechet, Ph.D., Vice-President for Research, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, jointly won the Japan Prize in the field of “Materials and Production” for their outstanding achievement in the “development of chemically amplified resist polymer materials for innovative semiconductor manufacturing process.” The Japan Prize in “Biological Production and Biological Environment” went to John Frederick Grassle, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey for his contribution to “marine environmental conservation through research on ecology and biodiversity of deep-sea organisms.”

Prof. Willson and Prof. Frechet, together with the late Dr. Hiroshi Ito, invented innovative semiconductor fabrication materials, which are now used in the manufacturing of nearly all microprocessors and memory chips found at the core of a variety of electronics products, ranging from mobile phones to automobiles to medical equipment.

The Foundation annually awards the Japan Prize, now in its 29th year, to scientists and researchers in two categories who, regardless of nationality, made substantial contributions to their field as well as peace and prosperity of mankind.

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