The Yale Science & Engineering Association (YSEA), in association with Yale Alumni Association, is delighted to present the YSEA Award for Meritorious Service to Yale University to Elie Track Ph.D ‘88 in Physics and Joe Cerro ‘89 in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. The award is conferred upon a distinguished scientist or engineer who has given outstanding service to Yale University, or a member of the broader community who has given outstanding service to science or engineering at Yale University. Previous award winners include leading educators, advisors to United States Presidents, noted philanthropists, university presidents, and alumni volunteers who have helped to create an outstanding community for science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Yale.
Elie Track Ph.D. ’88 received the 2020 YSEA Award for Meritorious Service to Yale University. Track came to Yale from the American University of Beirut. After earning his Ph.D. in Physics from Yale, he joined Hypres, Inc., a superconductor electronics firm, and became its President and CEO. Following Hypres, Track co-founded nVizix LLC, where he develops innovative high efficiency solar cells, and serves as its CEO. His superconductor work has applications in communications, high-performance computing, and quantum computing. Dr. Track served as a Professor of Physics at Fairfield University and at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Track joined the YSEA Executive Board in 1999 and has been a prominent volunteer in service to the Yale community. Elie introduced annual strategic planning retreats, transforming YSEA into a more proactive, disciplined, and forward-looking organization as well as helped develop a fund which today provides support for Yale STEM initiatives.