Academician Alfred Y. Cho, along with Professor Leonid Keldysh of Russia, has been awarded the Rusnanoprize for nanotechnology discoveries and innovations that have been applied to production. The prize will be presented to Dr. Cho and Prof. Keldysh at an award ceremony at the 2nd Nanotechnology International Forum in Moscow on October 6, 2009. 

The prize was specifically awarded for Dr Cho and Prof. Keldysh's innovation: "semiconductor superstructures and technology of molecular beam epitaxy".

The Rusnanoprize is administered by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) which was set up in 2007 by the Russian government to enable government policy in the field of nanotechnology. In addition to prize giving, RUSNANO participates in building nanotechnology infrastructure and supports education in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Each year from 2009, the Rusanoprize will be awarded in one of the four fields of NanoElectronics, NanoMaterials, NanoBiotechnology and NanoDiagnostics with the goal inspiring and recognizing innovations in the field of nanotechnology and nanoindustry.

Dr. Cho spent his career working for AT &T Bell Laboratories in New Jersey where he was variously Department Head of Electronics and Photonics, Director of the Materials Processing Research Laboratory, and Vice President of the Semiconductor Research Laboratory. He has been an Academia Sinica Academician since 1990.

During his career Dr. Cho has been honored with several awards including the United States National Medal of Science awarded in 1993 by former US President Bill Clinton, the IEEE Medal of Honor (1994), the W.E. Lamb Medal for Laser Science and Quantum Optics (1999), the National Medal of Technology awarded in 2007 by former US President George Bush, and inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2009.