Global Recognition for UWB: Jiří Houška Receives Bill Sproul Award for Materials Research

He designs material structures, simulates their growth atom-by-atom, and predicts their properties. This ability to model thin films at multiple levels earned the Pilsen-based physicist from the Faculty of Applied Sciences a prestigious award from an international committee based in the U.S.

Multifunctional coatings for energy-efficient solutions and many other new materials, the work of Jiří Houška from the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen has a major impact on the development of modern technologies. His research not only enables the explanation of the behaviour and properties of the materials being prepared, but also leads to the accurate prediction of new materials with a unique combination of several properties, whether mechanical, optical, or high-temperature. His innovative approach also got the attention of an international committee from the American Vacuum Society (AVS). In April, the Czech physicist was awarded the prestigious Bill Sproul Award and Honorary ICMCTF Lectureship. For the very first time, the award has gone to someone outside Western Europe or North America, a milestone that, according to the Department of Physics's leadership, places UWB Pilsen on the map of the world's most significant centres of thin-film materials research.

"Receiving the Bill Sproul Award made me very happy. For me, the award is proof that hard work yields results and that my colleagues and I are on the right track," stated Jiří Houška. The award also included an invitation to the prestigious international ICMCTF conference in San Diego, California, where the latest findings in thin films and innovative surface treatments are presented. The FAV professor delivered an invited lecture on his research there. "The ICMCTF conference is the most important in the field of thin-film materials prepared by plasma technologies. When I attended it for the first time twenty years ago, in the final year of my doctoral studies, I never imagined I would one day return in this capacity," Jiří Houška confided.

The Bill Sproul Award is dedicated to researchers worldwide in the fields of surface engineering and thin-film structures, typically within 15 to 25 years of their PhD. The exceptional nature of the achievement is further underscored by the fact that the Advanced Surface Engineering Division of AVS presents only one such award per year. It is an individual recognition of a specific scientist and their home institution. "The awarding of the Bill Sproul Award to Jiří Houška is an extraordinary event for our department and the entire university. In our field, it is the equivalent of an individual victory in the world's top league. Moreover, Jiří Houška's work contributes to the design of methods for the preparation of a wide variety of thin-film materials using technologies that hold significant potential for near-future industrial applications," explained Pavel Baroch, Head of the Department of Physics, FAV.

Prof. Ing. Jiří Houška, Ph.D. has been at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen since completing his PhD studies in 2007. During his career, he has undertaken extended research fellowships at leading institutions worldwide, including the University of Sydney in Australia, Polytechnique Montréal in Canada, and RWTH Aachen in Germany. He is the author of 108 publications in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and is a regularly invited speaker at international conferences. In recognition of his professional contributions, he received the Czech Science Foundation Chairperson's Award for the best project in the field of technical sciences in 2018.