York scientist wins Royal Academy of Engineering recognition

Posted on Tuesday 16 September 2014

Professor Pratibha Gai, Chair of Electron Microscopy, was one of 59 new Fellows announced by the Royal Academyof Engineering. The Royal Academy of Engineering is the National Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom.

She is head of the York JEOL Nanocentre, a major long-term collaboration between the University's Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Electronics, the European Union, Yorkshire Forward and leading electron optics manufacturer JEOL.

Professor Gai said: “I am extremely pleased to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. It is humbling that my work has been recognised by my academic colleagues. It will be an honour to join a group of such outstanding scientists and engineers.”

Professor Gai attended the University of Cambridge after initial education in India. She graduated with a PhD in Physics from the Cavendish Laboratory, specialising in electron microscopy, before establishing and leading the Surface Reactions and Catalysis group at the University of Oxford.

After senior research positions with DuPont, USA and concurrently as adjunct Professor at the University of Delaware, she came to York in 2007 as the Founding JEOL Professor of Electron Microscopy, with Chairs in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics. She is a Fellow of several scientific societies and was awarded the Gabor Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics, UK in 2010.

Two years ago, Professor Gai was named the Laureate for Europe in the L’OREAL-UNESCO Women in Science Awards for 2013.