RICHARDSON, Texas (Jan. 24, 2003) - Dr. Anvar A. Zakhidov, professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and associate director of the UTD NanoTech Institute, will receive an "Asian-American Engineer of the Year" award from the Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA (CIE/USA) when the national organization holds its annual awards banquet in Dallas next month.

Zakhidov is one of 14 prominent scientists and engineers from throughout the United States to be selected to receive the award, which recognizes significant contributions by Asian-Americans to engineering and the sciences. Specifically, Zakhidov will be honored for his efforts to advance nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The awardees work for a wide range of organizations in the public and private sector, including IBM, Boeing, Raytheon, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Cisco Systems, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the U.S. Navy.

In addition, two other distinguished Asian-Americans will be singled out for honors at the banquet - Dr. Samuel Chao-Chung Ting, Nobel laureate and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr. Chih-Tang Sah, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida.

Zakhidov joined UTD in the fall of 2001 when he and colleague Ray Baughman left Honeywell International to establish the UTD NanoTech Institute. Both men are pioneers in the fledgling field of nanotechnology.

A native of the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, Zakhidov has taught molecular science at universities in Japan and Italy. He holds a Ph.D. degree in physics (optics) from the Institute of Spectroscopy of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in Moscow and a master's degree in physics from Tashkent Technical University.

He is well-known for his work on superconducting fullerrides and photoinduced charge transfer in fullerene-polymer systems. He developed the concept of tunable photonic crystals, which have potential applications in optoelectronics and telecommunications.

The CIE/USA awards banquet will be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 22 at the Renaissance Dallas North Hotel.

About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 13,000 students. The school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university's web site at http://www.utdallas.edu.