Lena F. Kourkoutis is an Associate Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University. She currently serves as the Co-Director of PARADIM, the Platform for the Accelerated Realization, Analysis, and Discovery of Interface Materials, an NSF Materials Innovation Platform.

Dr. Kourkoutis received her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Rostock, Germany in 2003, and then moved to Ithaca where she was awarded a Ph.D. in 2009. As a Humboldt Research Fellow, she spent 2011-2012 exploring cryo-electron microscopy in the Molecular Structural Biology Group at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. She returned to Cornell University as a Postdoctoral Associate in 2012 and joined the Applied and Engineering Faculty in 2013.

 

Honors and Awards

  • Cornell Engineering Research Excellence Award, 2021
  • Microscopy and Microanalysis Best Paper Award, Microscopy Society of America, 2020
  • Kurt Heinrich Award, Microanalysis Society, 2020
  • Cosslett Award, Microanalysis Society, 2020
  • Burton Medal, Microscopy Society of America, 2018
  • Microscopy and Microanalysis Best Paper Award, Microscopy Society of America, 2018
  • Dorothy and Fred Chau Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Engineering, Cornell, 2017
  • National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER), 2017-2022
  • Microscopy and Microanalysis Best Paper Award 2016, Microscopy Society of America, 2016
  • National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers Fellow, 2016
  • Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2016-2021
  • Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, 2014-2019
  • Albert Crewe Award for distinguished contributions to microscopy and microanalysis, 2013
  • Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow, Cornell, 2012-2017
  • Marine Biological Laboratory Scholarship, Marine Biological Laboratory, 2012
  • Humboldt Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research at the MPI of Biochemistry, Martinsried, 2011-2012
  • CU-ADVANCE faculty development grant, 2011
  • William Nichols Findley Prize: Best research paper by CU Applied Physics Grad Student, 2010
  • Applied Materials Graduate Fellowship, 2005-2009
  • Eric Samuel Scholarship Award, 2008
  • Distinguished Scholar Award, Microanalysis Society, 2007
  • International Microscopy Congress (IMC16) Scholarship Award, 2006
  • Fulbright Travel Fellowship supporting studies at NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 2002
  • Erasmus Fellowship supporting studies at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, 2001