On April 29, 2015, Elaine Zhou from the Analytical Instrumentation Facility was recognized through an Award for Excellence nomination within the College of Engineering for her contributions in the area of innovation in materials characterization services. Elaine has made significant contributions to improve the effectiveness of innovative services offered by the College to internal and external customers, which has resulted in several new and improved innovations. In particular, Elaine has been instrumental in transcending and integrating disciplines to exploiting tools and instrumentation that lies at the interface of disciplines. She has presented several seminars on new techniques to many groups at NC State, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and in presentations at national and international meetings. Her work has significantly increased the usage and visibility of the materials characterization tools to the academic community and industry.