(May 11, 2017) Dr. Bob Allen, a distinguished research staff member and senior manager of the Materials Discovery and Innovation Department at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, will receive the  2017 Graduate School Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. The award recognizes achievements of national distinction in any field of enduring significance to society. Allen, who was awarded his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in 1985 under the direction of Prof. Jim McGrath (who passed away in 2014), leads the IBM Research Center’s chemical/materials research.