News Release: Two NREL Researchers Named Fellows of Electrochemical Society
The Electrochemical Society has selected two researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) among this year’s class of its fellows: Bryan Pivovar and Jeff Blackburn.
The two will be formally recognized as fellows during the organization’s meeting this fall in Sweden.
“I am delighted to see Bryan and Jeff recognized for their impacts and contributions to electrochemistry and their active engagement with The Electrochemical Society,” said Bill Tumas, NREL associate laboratory director for Materials, Chemical, and Computational Science, the directorate that encompasses Pivovar’s and Blackburn’s work. “Their recognition could not be timelier as we are globally experiencing a renaissance in electrochemistry. Fundamental and applied R&D in hydrogen, electrons to molecules, and other innovations is central to accelerating our clean energy transformation.”
Founded in 1902 in Philadelphia, The Electrochemical Society (ECS) declares its mission to “advance theory and practice at the forefront of electrochemical and solid state science and technology, and allied subjects.”
Pivovar, who manages NREL’s Electrochemical Engineering and Materials Chemistry Group, joined the laboratory in 2008. He was elevated to senior research fellow at NREL in 2019. ECS said it selected Pivovar as a fellow in recognition of his technical contributions in the areas of fuel cells and electrolyzers and global leadership in the promotion and adoption of hydrogen as a carbon-free energy carrier.
“It is always an honor to be recognized by your peers, and no scientific peer group to me is close to the importance that the ECS holds,” Pivovar said. “The ECS is the heart of my scientific family and first focus of my research life. I see the honor as a combination as a recognition of my technical contributions and service to the society. I enjoy standing on the shoulders of giants in trying to do my role in science the best that I can. I want to do all I can to help others grow and push science forward. Being recognized with an honor like this is humbling but also enabling.”
Blackburn, who joined NREL in 2004, is a senior scientist, group manager, NREL Distinguished Member of the Research Staff, and serves on the current board of directors of ECS. The organization said it named him a fellow for his contributions to redox chemistry, charge transfer and transport, and dynamic (photo)electrochemical processes in single-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene, monolayer semiconductors, and other low-dimensional materials.
“It is an honor to be selected as a fellow this year,” Blackburn said. “The ECS has been a solid community for me since I started attending the meetings in 2006, and I have gotten a lot more involved in the organizational side of things in the past 10 years or so. Electrochemistry-based technologies have always been central to NREL’s mission, and electrochemistry skills and knowledge are in high demand in industry right now. I am hoping we can grow NREL’s footprint in the society even more in the near future.”
The addition of Pivovar and Blackburn brings to four the number of fellows the organization has selected from NREL. The others are David Ginley and John Turner.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.