Dr. Jin’s scientific accomplishments have been recognized with many awards and honors, including an election to the US National Academy of Engineering (1999), Fellow of American Physical Society (2003), Fellow of American Society for Metals (1994), TMS Fellow (2000), and inaugural MRS Fellow (2008). He received various awards including the John Bardeen Award (2007), Nano 50 Award (2005), the Albert-Sauveur Achievement Award (2009), the CRS Jorge Heller JCR Award (2012), the TMS Functional Materials Division Distinguished Service Award (2015), and the TMS Acta Materialia Gold Medal (2016). He also received the Ho-Am Engineering Prize from Ho-Am Foundation in Korea in 2000 (the most prominent honor in Korea in science and technology). Dr. Jin also contributed to the profession by serving as Principal Editor of Journal of Materials Research (1998 – 2005), as Editor of Acta Materialia (2007–present), as Guest Editors for three JOM Special Topics Series in 1997-1998 on various functional materials, and as Editor for Electronic Packaging, New Encyclopedia of Materials Science and Technology (1999). Business Week magazine selected him as one of the Top Ten Innovative Scientists in the country (1989).

He earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering in 1974 from UC Berkeley. The pioneering and leadership nature of his work is evident by his publications (400+ including 10 in Nature or Science), Science Citation Index (17,000+), US Patents (250+ issued or pending), and invited or keynote talks (140+) at major professional societies.