Van Truskett Named Distinguished Engineering Graduate

Headshot of Dr. Van Truskett in a floral pink blouseAlumna Van Truskett (B.S. ’96) has been selected as a 2016 Distinguished Engineering Graduate for the Cockrell School of Engineering. Truskett is one of five alumni to be honored for his or her presentation to the world as a consummate professional and dedicated engineer.

Truskett is a highly accomplished inventor and leads jetting technology development for Canon Nanotechnologies Inc. Truskett’s innovations have solved many of the fundamental and important problems for enabling nanoscale manufacturing in semiconductors, hard disk drives and flexible films for display applications.

Truskett received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in 1996. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2002.

After graduating, Truskett worked for equipment manufacturing startup Molecular Imprints Inc., a company that was spun out of research conducted in the Cockrell School and founded by two professors.In 2014, Molecular Imprints’ semiconductor business was acquired by Canon Inc. and is now known as Canon Nanotechnologies Inc. Truskett spent 12 years with Molecular Imprints and has continued with the company since its acquisition.

During her career, Truskett has developed multiple innovations in drop-on-demand dispense methods to enable the production of industry-leading, high-resolution, low-cost-of-ownership nanoimprint lithography systems for hard disk drives, semiconductors and flat panel display applications. These systems, known as Jet and FlashTM Imprint Lithography, have revolutionized the approach to manufacturing nanoscale patterns by making it possible to directly print features onto substrates. She has introduced many new jetting systems over the last 10 years. Truskett’s work has taken jetting technology from scholarship to practice in the United States and Asia, enabling a novel path for lower production costs for the semiconductor industry.

She holds 71 patents (15 U.S. and 56 international) that have guided the design and manufacturing of every related part of both Molecular Imprints’ and Canon Nanotechnologies’ nanoimprinting processes.

Truskett is the recipient of the 2014 Industrial Research & Development Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the 2016 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award for Technology Innovation from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas.

Truskett and her husband Tom (B.S. ChE 1996), who currently serves as chair of the Cockrell School’s McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, reside in Austin. The couple has two children, Carly and Clay.

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