Chemist Wilson Ho has received the American Vacuum Society Medard W. Welch Award for the development and application of atomic-scale inelastic electron tunneling with a scanning tunneling microscope. The Donald Bren Professor of physics & astronomy and his team created a two-story-high microscope that allows researchers to see and interact with individual atoms and molecules 500,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. The prize consists of a $6,500 cash award, a struck gold medal, a certificate, and an honorary lectureship at the 58th AVS International Symposium & Exhibition in Nashville this fall. AVS is a nonprofit organization of 5,000 scientists and engineers that promotes communication, education, recommended practices and the dissemination of knowledge in the application of devices in vacuum and other controlled environments.