Professor Venkat Viswanathan Receives the 2024 ACS Energy Lectureship Award
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering professor receives award for cutting-edge battery research
Venkat Viswanathan, has been honored with the 2024 ACS Energy Lectureship award in the category, “Outstanding Mid-Career Researcher.” This recognition highlights his outstanding contributions in conducting energy-related research and development, particularly in the area of energy storage.
The selection committee stated how highly impressed they were by the impact of Professor Viswanathan’s research, and considered his dedication and innovative approaches to have not only advanced the field, but also addressed critical global challenges in energy and chemical sciences. In addition to receiving this distinguished award, Viswanathan has also been invited to present a talk on his related research at the ACS Fall 2024 Meeting, held in Denver, CO, on August 18-22. The symposium, titled “2024 Energy Lectureship Award symposium held jointly with ACS Energy Letters (Invited),” will provide those in attendance further insight into the work he has been working on.
“It is a huge honor to receive this award by ACS Energy Letters, one of the premier journals for energy storage research. I am glad to have the opportunity to discuss our work on what next-generation batteries can enable for electric mobility, especially for aviation,” said Viswanathan.
Viswanathan joined the Aerospace Engineering Department as a professor in the fall of 2023, with a joint appointment in Mechanical Engineering. His transition to the U-M community from Carnegie Mellon University was driven by his desire to join the battery ecosystem which surrounds the Detroit area and strength in aerospace. At the University of Michigan, his research and teaching specializes in high-energy density batteries for aviation. It is here Viswanathan launched the electric aviation battery program, the first program of its kind at a U.S. university and has since begun gaining attention from across the country.
Additionally, Viswanathan is co-founder of several ventures including Aionics, Chement, And Battery Aero (ABA), and Ionworks. This underscores his dedication to join academia and industry together to pursue cutting-edge solutions to battery related research. We would like to congratulate him on his accomplishments and look forward to watching his success in the future.