ECE Alumnus Justus Ndukaife has been awarded the 2017 Prize by the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation for his work on plasmon nano-optical tweezers. He graduated with his PhD in Electrical Engineering and has joined the faculty in the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, where he continues to work in the domain of nanoscience and nanotechnology to tackle global challenges in renewable energy, healthcare, nano-manufacturing, and sensing. He was advised by Professors Alexandra Boltasseva, George Nnanna, and Vladimir Shalaev, and collaborated with Professors Steve Wereley and Alexander Kildishev.

The Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation awards scientific prizes for outstanding work in selected fields in the engineering sciences, medicine and the natural sciences. The award is given in six areas, with a particular emphasis on research in: Life Sciences & Medicine, Physics, Chemistry (including nanotechnology), Mathematics, Informatics/Computer Science, and Engineering of Finance & Risk Management). It rewards research characterized by its high potential for practical application and by the special significance attached to its aftermath.  Every year, partner universities in Europe, North America and Asia evaluate the research work of their graduating doctorate students and propose the best for prizing. Depending on the years of association with the Foundation and the size of the sample from which the best researcher is chosen (which must be statistically valid), some partner universities receive two prizes per year; others have one annual prize. The Foundation prizes the best doctoral student(s) in the Hard Sciences in each partner university. These annual awards are of $5,000 each.

Prize winners must be at the top of their class; and must demonstrate by their work that they have considered the consequences of their research for man and nature, and that they are ready as individuals to accept responsibility for these consequences. Awards are made after a very careful selection process in each respective prize category.