Buffalo, NY: University at Buffalo researcher Amit Goyal was recognized by organizers of a leading international conference on superconductivity and magnetism with an industrial achievement award for his contributions to the field.
Goyal, PhD, is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
He received the award – the ICSM 2026 International Industrial Career Achievement Award in Superconductivity – at the 11th International Conference on Superconductivity and Magnetism (ICSM), which was held jointly with the 4th International Conference on Quantum Materials and Technologies (ICQMT) in Türkiye from April 19-26. The ICSM and ICQMT bring together worldwide experts to address grand challenges and converging themes in superconductors, magnetic and quantum materials.
The honor, one of two industrial lifetime achievement awards given at the conferences, recognized Goyal for his “transformative contributions to superconducting technologies through the development of advanced coated conductors.” The other was awarded to Masato Sagawa, inventor of NdFeB (neodymium, iron and boron) magnets.
Organizers noted Goyal's “work has enabled the realization of high-temperature superconducting systems with enhanced performance, reliability, and scalability. These advancements have played a critical role in enabling superconducting applications in power grids, high-field magnets, energy storage systems, and next-generation electrical infrastructure, contributing significantly to global energy efficiency and sustainability.”
The citation also states that Goyal has “played a central leadership role in bridging fundamental materials research with industrial deployment,” and that he is “internationally recognized as a leading figure in applied superconductivity and coated conductor technologies.”
Goyal said he is “honored and humbled” by the recognition.
“I particularly thank Professor Ali Gencer, the lead conference series organizer of the ICSM-ICQMT conference, which has now become a truly international and leading conference in superconductivity, magnetism and quantum materials with over 650 attendees from over 60 countries this year, despite ongoing geopolitical disturbances in the Middle East. A unique feature of the conference is that it spans from fundamental science to applications bringing together leading scientists in three scientific areas across the technology readiness levels. I also thank the awards committee.”
Goyal’s research and innovations have addressed key fundamental challenges towards fabrication of high-performance, kilometer-long, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires, now known as coated conductors. These include the Rolling-Assisted-Biaxially-Textured-Substrates (RABiTS) substrate technology; the LMOe-enabled, IBAD-MgO substrate technology, both for single-crystal-like HTS wire manufacture; and the strain-driven, self-assembly of non-superconducting, nanocolumnar defects at nanoscale spacings within HTS wires for high-performance, especially in high-applied magnetic fields.
Today, most HTS wire-manufacturers worldwide use one or more of these innovations to fabricate kilometer-long, high-performance HTS wires. This technology has numerous large-scale applications in energy generation (magnetic confinement based nuclear fusion for energy generation and offshore wind), energy transmission (cables including superconducting power infrastructure for gigawatt scale AI data centers), energy storage (superconducting magnetic energy storage systems (SMES), energy-efficient devices (superconducting motors, generators, transformers) medical areas (next generation MRI and nuclear magnetic resonance for drug discovery) and defense (all-electric ships and deguassing of ships and all-electric planes).
