Serena DeBeer

Prof. Serena DeBeer is a Director of the Department of Inorganic Spectroscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) and holds adjunct professorships at Cornell University and honorary faculty roles at Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Duisburg-Essen. She specializes in advanced X-ray spectroscopic techniques to study catalytic processes, particularly in biological and heterogeneous systems. Her work focuses on understanding electronic structures of transition metal active sites in catalysts for energy-relevant reactions like nitrogen fixation, methane oxidation, and water splitting.

Education: B.S. in Chemistry from Southwestern University (1995), Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University (2002). She has held roles at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), Cornell University, and leadership positions at MPI CEC since 2011. She leads the PINK beamline at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, advancing X-ray emission spectroscopy.

Research interests include developing spectroscopic tools (e.g., valence XES, RIXS) to probe catalytic intermediates. Key areas include nitrogenase mechanisms, iron-oxo catalysts, and heterogeneous catalysts for ammonia synthesis. Her group collaborates on projects like adaptive catalyst design and operando studies of electrocatalysts.

Awards include the Michael Lappert Lectureship (2024), ERC Synergy Grant (2019), and Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship (2021). She advises research groups and students, supervising studies on molecular catalysis, spectroelectrochemistry, and materials design. Her lab integrates experimental and computational methods to advance sustainable energy solutions.