3D-OMiTEM (Three dimensional orientation mapping in the transmission electron microscope), internationally co-developed by Prof. Zhiquan Liu at Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials science (IMR, CAS) together with researchers at Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Tsinghua University and Johns Hopkins University, was honored with “Microscopy Today 2012 Innovation Award” by the Microscopy Society of America. The Award was presented on August 1st at the Microscopy & Microanalysis 2012 conference in Phoenix, AZ in the United States. The Microscopy Society of America annually collects the nominations of new commercial microscopy-related products or new microscopy methods and inventions in the previous calendar year globally, and elects ten Innovation awards among them basing on their importance and usefulness to the microscopy community. Winners will be notified by May 15 and will be honored at the summer Microscopy & Microanalysis conference..

Firstly published in Science 332(2011)833 in May 2011, 3D-OMiTEM received this Award with the citation of “a non-destructive 3D orientation mapping technique with spatial resolution down to 1 nm”. Earlier, 3D-OMiTEM was also named as one of the top ten highlights in materials science in 2011 by the Materials Research Society (MRS) in USA.