Esther Takeuchi Receives 2022 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences

Esther S. Takeuchi

Esther S. Takeuchi, distinguished professor and William and Jane Knapp chair at Stony Brook University, is being honored by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and will receive the Award in Chemical Sciences in recognition of her breakthrough contributions in the understanding of electrochemical energy storage.

Takeuchi, who holds a joint appointment at Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is an internationally recognized inventor, researcher and educator in the fields of materials science, chemistry and renewable energy. She will be honored in a ceremony during the NAS 159th annual meeting on May 1, 2022, and will receive a medal and prize of $15,000 sponsored by the Merck Company Foundation.

The award cites Takeuchi’s contributions “to the materials and mechanistic understanding relevant to electrochemical energy storage, using chemical insight to address issues of critical importance.”

“I am sincerely honored to receive the National Academy of Science Award for Chemical Sciences,” says Takeuchi, also the Knapp Chair in Energy and the Environment in the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering. “The fundamental chemistry of electrochemical energy storage is complex, and the subsequent development of viable energy storage devices is made even more challenging by the unique demands of each application.”

Takeuchi’s research has been instrumental in energy storage improvements that meet societal needs and can be applied to electric vehicles, medical devices and batteries that back up the power grid.

Among her numerous and notable inventions is a compact lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery that increased the lifespan of implantable cardiac defibrillators, a solution that reduced the number of surgeries patients needed to undergo to replace the devices that detect and correct irregular, potentially fatal, heart rhythms.

The award is part of a series of awards from the NAS that honors the extraordinary scientific achievements of 18 nationally renowned scientists in a wide range of fields. For more information, see this NAS press release.

“Currently, I have the privilege of coordinating the efforts of very talented collaborators in facilities at Stony Brook, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at national labs, including dedicated staff scientists, prominent professors, and enthusiastic postdoctoral researchers. Our collaborative efforts are designed to yield the needed understanding of electrochemical energy storage necessary for the successful deployment of future energy storage devices for usage in the U.S. and the world, including the goal of energy equity among all peoples,” adds Takeuchi.

Takeuchi was recently elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has also been inducted into the National Academy of Engineering and selected as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was selected as the 2013 recipient of the E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2009, President Obama presented Takeuchi with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor possible for technological achievement in the United States.