Dr. Philip J. Bos, associate director of Kent State’s Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI), has been awarded the Slottow-Owaki Prize for Display Education by the Society for Information Display (SID). The 2010 SID honors and awards were presented during Display Week 2010: The SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition that was held May 23-28 in Seattle, Wash.
Bos was recognized for his pioneering educational efforts in the field of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). “The field of liquid crystal displays is impossible to imagine without the decisive contributions of Professor Philip J. Bos,” says Dr. Oleg D. Lavrentovich, director of the LCI. Over the last three decades, Prof. Bos made seminal inventions such as high-speed switching of the liquid crystal through a delicate balance of director reorientation and hydrodynamic flows and enhanced viewing angle and contrast of nematic displays through compensating films. He has also developed efficient diffractive and beam-steering devices. “His contribution to the field is multifaceted,” Lavrentovich said. “In addition to being an ingenious inventor and a deeply knowledgeable scientist, Prof. Bos is also a wonderful teacher, who advised numerous Ph.D. students that graduated from Kent State and currently work at companies such as Apple, Inc., 3M, Hewlett Packard, Kent Displays, Hana Microdisplays and others. His efforts greatly contribute to making the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Graduate Program world-renowned in science and liquid crystal applications.”
Bos oversees the LCI Industrial Partnership Program which provides a vital link to the industrial world both nationally and internationally. The program also provides industry access to the LCI’s rich intellectual and instrumental resources.
In 2007, LCI emeritus director, J. W. (Bill) Doane was the first ever recipient of the Slottow-Owaki Prize.