Punit Boolchand is a materials scientist, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computing Systems (EECS) in the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) at the University of Cincinnati (UC), where he is director of the Solid State Physics and Electronic Materials Laboratory He discovered the Intermediate Phase: an elastically percolative network glass distinguished from traditional (clustered) liquid–gas spinodals by strong non-local long-range interactions. The IP characterizes space-filling, nearly stress-free and non-aging, critically self-organized non-equilibrium glassy networks (such as window glass, ineluctably complex high-temperature superconductors, microelectronic Si/SiO2 high-k dielectric interfaces, and protein folding). His experimental data over a 25-year period (1982–2007) formed the basis for the theory of network glasses developed by James Charles Phillips and Michael Thorpe. The theory was adopted by Corning Inc. and was a substantial factor contributing to the development of Gorilla glass by Corning scientists including John C. Mauro. These networks, although disordered, exhibit many nearly ideal properties that have revolutionized glass science and technology, as part of HD TV and glass covers for devices such as cell phones.
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