Dev Chidambaram

Dev Chidambaram is a Nevada Regents Researcher and professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. He earned his B.Tech. in chemical and electrochemical engineering from the Central Electrochemical Research Institute in India and three graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, from SUNY Stony Brook. He subsequently worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a Goldhaber Distinguished Fellow and staff scientist.

Internationally recognized as a leading electrochemist, corrosion scientist, and spectroscopist, Chidambaram has made pioneering contributions to understanding materials behavior in molten salts and supercritical environments, in situ spectroscopy in extreme conditions, and electrochemical systems for nuclear, solar‑thermal, battery, and environmental technologies. His group has led the development of in situ and operando Raman, UV–Vis–NIR, and X‑ray techniques for molten salts, enabling mechanistic insight into corrosion and speciation that is central to sustainable technologies. He has authored more than 300 publications and presentations and is the lead inventor on issued and pending U.S. and international patents. Scale‑ and corrosion‑inhibitor technologies developed by his group have been deployed commercially by Ormat Technologies, with multimillion‑dollar annual impact.

For his research contributions, Chidambaram has received awards from organizations including the Electrochemical Society, the International Society of Electrochemistry, the American Vacuum Society, and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. He received the 2025 Rusty Award for Mid‑Career Excellence from the Electrochemical Society and was recently elected Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.

A committed educator and mentor, he created the nation’s first undergraduate Batteries course and a Batteries and Energy Storage Technologies minor, led ABET accreditation in Materials Science and Engineering at UNR, and has graduated more than 30 graduate students who now hold leadership roles in industry, national laboratories, and academia, with his advisees collectively earning dozens of honors and awards.

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2003
• M.S., Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2001
• M.S., Materials Science and Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2000
• B.Tech., Chemical and Electrochemical Engineering, Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India, 1998

• Electrochemical Society (ECS) Fellow: Elected as a Fellow of the ECS (Class of 2026).
• Electrochemical Society (ECS) Rusty Mid-career Excellence Award of Corrosion Division: Given for excellence in corrosion research during their mid-career (2025).
• Nevada Regents Distinguished Researcher Award: Given to one faculty for exceptional research during their mid-career in the state of Nevada. Each of 4 institutions nominate one individual for the award, of which one is selected by the Nevada Regents (2023).
• Ormat Technologies Scholar of Materials and Interfaces: First Named Scholar at UNR in recognition of applied research contributions to industry. (July 2015 – date).
  
• Faculty Excellence Award – First recipient of the UNR College of Engineering Excellence Award for transformational contributions to the Department and the college. Award consists of a plaque and $5,000. (2013).
• The Hans-Jürgen Engell Prize–awarded annually by the International Society for Electrochemistry (ISE) to a young electrochemist on the basis of published work (Received September 2006).
• Goldhaber Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship (2004-2007)–Prestigious fellowship awarded by Brookhaven National Laboratory to select few recent doctoral graduates showing promise of qualifying for scientific staff position at the laboratory. (Three awarded in 2004).
• Morris Cohen Award–This award is given by the Electrochemical Society (ECS) in recognition of outstanding graduate research, conducted in the previous two years (2005).
• Lindau Nobel Laureates Foundation–Chosen to attend the 55th Meeting of the Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany. Nearly 600 young researchers were selected from over 10,000; nominations to attend the valuable and inspiring meeting. Over 50 Nobel laureates participated in the 2nd interdisciplinary meeting (2005).
• President's Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award–Highest recognition given by the State University of New York at Stony Brook signifying the outstanding merit of the dissertation and its research base (2004). Five outstanding dissertations receive the award (of dissertations accepted by the university in the preceding year) each year.