Wachsman named Materials Research Society Fellow

Dr. Eric Wachsman, UMD Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute (MEI²) was recently named a Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS). The MRS Fellows program recognizes outstanding contributions to the field, including research, leadership, and service that have advanced the mission of the materials community world-wide.  It is a lifetime recognition of distinction in the field. Wachsman is being honored for “advancing the fundamental knowledge of solid ion-conducting materials and applying this knowledge to develop and commercialize higher performing energy conversion and storage technologies."

Wachsman has more than 300 publications with a Web-of-Science h-index of 62 and a Google Scholar h-index of 80, and 48 patents/patent-applications on ionic and electronic conducting materials and device performance.

Wachsman has also made tremendous contributions to the education and guidance of the next generation of materials scientists having graduated 58 Ph.D., 35 M.S., and hundreds of undergraduate students, in addition to supervising 38 postdocs and research scientists. This has been recognized with faculty awards including Distinguished University Professor, and endowed Chairs from the University of Florida (UF) and then the University of Maryland (UMD). His involvement with his students included founding ECS student chapters at both UF and UMD and serving as Faculty Advisor for both. He has organized numerous scientific seminars including “Solid State Ionics” at MRS. He has over 160 invited, keynote, plenary, and award lectures - 15 of which were at MRS including recognition as one of the Top 5 Hot Talks/Cool Papers at MRS.

“Eric has been playing a leadership role in the field of electrochemistry on the world stage for a long time. We are especially grateful for his stewardship in energy research activities at UMD and beyond,” said Dr. Ichiro Takeuchi, Chair of the UMD Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a fellow of MRS. 

The maximum number of new MRS Fellow appointments each year is limited to 0.2% of the current MRS regular membership and to those with continuous engagement with MRS. Wachsman will be honored along with the other incoming class members of MRS Fellows during the 2026 MRS Spring Meeting, which is scheduled to be held April 26–May 1, 2026 in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.  

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