Lehigh materials science professor elected to Academia Europaea

Christopher J. Kiely, the Harold B. Chambers Senior Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, has been elected as a member of Academia Europaea (the Academy of Europe).

Kiely is an expert in the application of advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques for the study of nanoscale features in materials, and his election to the academy recognizes his continued contributions as a world leader in the area of catalyst material characterization.

Founded in 1988, Academia Europaea is a pan-European, non-governmental association of scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research. According to the organization’s website, leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and the law are among the academy’s approximately 4,200 members.

Membership in the academy–one of world’s premier scientific organizations–is by invitation following peer group nomination, a rigorous review process, and confirmation by the Council of the Academia.

“It’s a great honor to be inducted into this elite, interdisciplinary group that includes Nobel prize winners, directors of highly regarded institutes, and so many accomplished colleagues,” says Kiely, who is among 239 current members of the academy’s chemical sciences section.

A total of 324 international scholars across all disciplines were invited to accept membership in 2019, and a formal induction was held during the academy’s Building Bridges 2019 Conference, held October 23-25, 2019, in Barcelona, Spain.

Kiely directs the Materials Characterization Facility at Lehigh as well as the annual Lehigh Microscopy School. He has developed a particularly strong and productive international collaboration with researchers at the Cardiff Catalysis Institute in the UK, where he is also a professor of electron microscopy and catalysis.

For decades, Chris and his team have served as our ‘eyes,’ conducting sophisticated imaging and chemical analysis of materials at the atomic level,” says Graham Hutchings, Regius Professor of Chemistry at Cardiff University. “Our work together continues to explore new frontiers in catalysis and I am so pleased he has been elected to the membership of Academia Europaea.” 

Kiely’s research interests include catalyst materials, nanoparticle self-assembly, quantum dot materials, carbonaceous materials, and heteroepitaxial interfaces. His current microscopy technique development interests include aberration corrected analytical electron microscopy (AC-AEM), STEM XEDS/EELS spectrum imaging, and electron diffraction.

To date, he has published more than 310 journal papers and 220 conference papers, and has also given numerous invited presentations throughout Europe and the United States on his research work. He is also affiliated with Lehigh’s Institute for Functional Materials and Devices (I-FMD).

###

Related Links:

• Rossin College Faculty Profile: Christopher J. Kiely
• Academia Europaea
• Lehigh Microscopy School
• Institute for Functional Materials and Devices