Murphy '68 was head of the Applied Materials Research Department at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies in Murray Hill, N.J. In 1998 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his research on a variety of electronic materials, including work on rechargeable lithium ion batteries and superconducting compounds based on copper oxides or fullerene carbons. Murphy is currently working on materials that could be applied to wireless communications at Lucent's Wireless Research Lab. Author of more than 125 technical publications and holder of 10 patents, he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University in 1972. Murphy graduated from Earl Warren High School in Downey, Calif.