While at MIT, Suresh's experimental and modelling work on

the mechanical properties of structural and functional materials, innovations in materials design and characterisation, and discoveries of possible connections between cellular nanomechanical processes and human disease states have shaped new fields. He has co-authored more than 240 journal articles, registered 21 patents and written three widely used materials science books. Obama's top science official has received his Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in First Class with Distinction; a master's degree from Iowa State University; and a Doctor of Science degree from MIT. Following post-doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he joined the faculty of engineering at Brown University in December 1983, and was promoted to full professor in July 1989. He joined MIT in 1993 as the R P Simmons Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and served as head of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering during 2000-2006. Suresh has been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, German National Academy of Sciences and Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, among others. He has been elected a fellow or honorary member of all the major materials research societies in the United States and India. In 2011, the official was honoured with the Padma Shri by the President of India. In April 2013, he will receive the Benjamin Franklin medal for his research work in mechanical engineering and materials science. He has been awarded seven honorary doctorate degrees from institutions in the US, India, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland.