Texas A&M Hagler Institute announces first recipients of Rogers/Huang Medal
New medal recognizes outstanding collaborative research between Hagler Fellows and Texas A&M students advancing scientific innovation.
The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University announced the recipients of its inaugural Rogers/Huang Medal, a prestigious award for the best collaborative research paper by a Hagler Fellow with a Texas A&M student among the co-authors.
This year’s winning paper, which topped nine others, was a submission by Hagler Fellow Edwin “Ned” Thomas titled, “Supersonic puncture-healable and impact resistant covalent adaptive networks.” The paper is authored by Zhen Sang, Hongkyu Eoh, Kailu Xiao, Dmitry Kurouski, Wenpeng Shan, Jinho Hyon, Svetlana A. Sukhishvili and Thomas. All eight authors were associated with Texas A&M University during their research: Sang, Eoh, Xiao, Shan, Hyon, Sukhishvili and Thomas with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Kurouski with the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
“The Hagler Institute is pleased to present the Rogers/Huang Medal in partnership with John Rogers and Yonggang Huang,” said John Junkins, founding director of the Hagler Institute. “The works submitted for this contest demonstrate the power of collaboration and mentorship. Dr. Rogers and Dr. Huang specifically noted the high quality of scholarship represented by each paper submitted for the inaugural award. I congratulate the winners for the well-deserved and distinguished honor of being named the first-ever Rogers/Huang Medal recipients.”
As discussed in their paper, the winning team developed a material that self-heals after being punctured by projectiles. This polymer has far-reaching potential, from protecting orbiting satellites and vehicles in space, to applications for military equipment and body armor on Earth.
The paper was the culmination of Sang’s Ph.D. thesis, co-supervised by Sukhishvili and Thomas. Sang was a graduate student Hagler Institute fellowship recipient paired with Thomas and went on to a postdoctoral program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently a hardware engineer at Apple.
Other authors were:
- Eoh, an expert at extreme rate testing using laser-induced particle impact testing (LIPIT). He is currently completing his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M.
- Xiao, who helped with sample preparation and data analysis during the project. She is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California San Diego.
- Kurouski, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M. He led the study that demonstrated the potential of nano-infrared spectroscopy, a technique developed and deployed in his group, in the chemical analysis of polymers at the nanoscale.
- Shan, who also helped with data analysis and interpretation. Shan is now a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics in China.
- Hyon, who assisted with instrumentation for LIPIT experiments and gave guidance concerning high-rate imaging. Hyon is now a senior research scientist at the Agency for Defense Development in South Korea.
- Sukhishvili, a professor in the College of Engineering and director of the Soft Matter Facility at Texas A&M, who was a co-advisor of Sang during the study.
- Thomas, also a co-adviser of Sang during the study, who submitted the paper on behalf of the team. He is a 2019-20 Hagler Fellow who joined Texas A&M as a Permanent Fellow upon completion of his appointment. He is a professor in the College of Engineering, the Erle Nye ’59 Chair II and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Rogers/Huang Medal is named after John Rogers and Yonggang Huang. Both are former Fellows of the Hagler Institute, and their collaboration has produced, as of early 2025, seven book chapters and 398 journal articles. Rogers is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Huang is a member of the National Academies of Science and Engineering.
The Rogers/Huang Medal is designed to encourage and recognize excellence in research collaboration. To qualify for submission, a current or former Hagler Fellow or Hagler Distinguished Lecturer, as well as a current or former Texas A&M student, must be among the co-authors. The student must have collaborated on the research paper and its underlying research while at Texas A&M. Submissions are reviewed by Rogers and Huang, who select the annual winner.
The Hagler Institute will award a total of $10,000, allocated equally among co-authors, to the winning paper, and each co-author will receive a Rogers/Huang Medal. Winners will be formally presented with the award at the Hagler Institute’s annual gala in February.
