Michele D. Smith

Michele D. Smith is an American materials scientist and chemical engineer renowned for her pioneering work in the synthesis and application of functional nanomaterials. Her research, primarily conducted at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has significantly advanced the fields of energy storage and heterogeneous catalysis. Smith's innovative approaches to nanoparticle synthesis have led to the development of new materials for batteries, fuel cells, and environmental remediation technologies.

Early life and education

Michele D. Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois, and developed an early interest in chemistry and physics. She pursued her undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. Her undergraduate research, conducted under the guidance of Professor Angela Belcher, focused on biomimetic materials and sparked her interest in nanoscale engineering. Smith then attended Stanford University for her doctoral studies, completing her Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering. Her dissertation, supervised by Professor Yi Cui, investigated novel electrode architectures for lithium-ion batteries.

Career

Following her PhD, Smith was awarded a prestigious Miller Research Fellowship to conduct postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. She subsequently joined the faculty of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UC Berkeley as an assistant professor. Smith also holds a joint appointment as a staff scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In these roles, she leads a multidisciplinary research group that collaborates extensively with scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Molecular Foundry. Her work bridges fundamental science and applied engineering, often in partnership with industry leaders like Tesla, Inc. and BASF.

Research and contributions

Smith's research program is centered on the rational design and controlled synthesis of nanomaterials to address critical challenges in energy and sustainability. A major contribution is her development of a generalized method for creating hollow nanostructures with tunable porosity and composition, which has proven highly effective for enhancing catalytic activity and ion transport. She has applied these structures to create superior oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells and high-capacity anodes for sodium-ion batteries. Her group also pioneered the use of operando spectroscopy techniques, such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy conducted at the Advanced Light Source, to observe material transformations in real time during electrochemical cycling.

Awards and honors

Smith's impactful work has been recognized with numerous national awards and honors. Early in her faculty career, she received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award. She was later honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, presented at a ceremony at the White House. Her scientific achievements have been acknowledged by her peers through invitations to deliver plenary lectures at major conferences, including the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting and the American Chemical Society National Meeting. She is also an elected member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and serves on the editorial board of the journal ACS Nano.

Personal life

Michele D. Smith is married to a fellow academic in the field of computational chemistry, and they have two children. She is an advocate for STEM education and frequently participates in outreach programs with the Oakland Unified School District and the California Academy of Sciences. In her spare time, she is an avid runner and has completed several marathons, including the Boston Marathon.

Category:American materials scientists Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Living people