Franky So is Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University. He was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2012 for contributions to organic light emitting diodes. He has been elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2012.
Research and career
Franky So earned his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. He was the Manager for the OLED Research group at the Motorola Corporate Research Laboratories before transitioning to become the Head of OLED Research at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. In 2005, he joined the University of Florida and became the Rolf E. Hummel Professor of Electronic Materials in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Since 2015, he has been the Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University.
He has received many awards in the past. While at Motorola, he was named the Distinguished Innovator and Master Innovator. He was the recipient of the Department of Energy Solid State Lighting Program Significant Achievement Awards. He has founded and co-founded 5 startups. In 2023, he was named the Entrepreneur of the Year at the North Carolina State University. Dr. So holds 120 U.S. patents. He has published more than 230 papers with an H-Index of 82, edited 5 books, and written 4 book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Materials Science and Engineering Reports and serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of Display Technology, SPIE Journal of Photonic Technology, and Journal of SID. So is a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Photonics Society, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, MRS, IEEE, SID, OSA, and SPIE.
In 2023, Franky So was named the Entrepreneur of the Year by North Carolina State University.
Education
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California
M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT
B.A. in Physics from Hamilton College
Selected publications
Small, C., Chen, S., Subbiah, J. et al. High-efficiency inverted dithienogermole–thienopyrrolodione-based polymer solar cells. Nature Photon 6, 115–120 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.317 Jesse R. Manders, Sai-Wing Tsang, Michael J. Hartel, Tzung-Han Lai, Song Chen, Chad M. Amb, John R. Reynolds, Franky So, Solution-Processed Nickel Oxide Hole Transport Layers in High Efficiency Polymer Photovoltaic Cells https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201202269 M. A. McCarthy et al. ,Low-Voltage, Low-Power, Organic Light-Emitting Transistors for Active Matrix Displays.Science332,570-573(2011). https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1203052