Donald Siegel

Donald Siegel is Professor and Chair of the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds the Temple Foundation Endowed Professorship and the Cockrell Family Chair for Departmental Leadership. As a computational materials scientist, his research focuses on energy storage materials, lightweight alloys, and solid-state battery technologies. He is a Core Faculty Member in the Texas Materials Institute and the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences. Previously, he served at the University of Michigan (2009–2021) and Ford Research (prior to 2009). His work has led to over 100 publications, patents, and prestigious awards like the NSF Career Award and U.S. Department of Energy Secretary’s Achievement Award.

Education: Ph.D. from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, postdoctoral training at Sandia National Labs and U.S. Naval Research Lab. He was a VELUX Visiting Professor at Technical University of Denmark (2015–2016). Research interests include hydrogen storage in MOFs, thermal energy storage via salt hydrates, and solid electrolyte design for lithium batteries. He actively advises federal energy initiatives, including co-chairing FreedomCAR Hydrogen Storage Technical Team and serving on JCESR Directorate.

Scientific contributions span computational screening of materials, interfacial stability analysis, and machine learning applications. His grants and collaborations emphasize translating materials science into real-world energy storage solutions.