Kristin Persson

Kristin Persson is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also serves as Director of the Molecular Foundry. She is a Faculty Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, based in the Energy Sciences Area (ESA). Her research focuses on computational materials science for energy applications, leading the internationally recognized Persson Group and the Materials Project initiative.

Professor Persson's research interests center on applying atomistic and first-principles computational methods coupled with high-performance computing and machine learning to advance materials for clean energy production and storage. Her group specializes in designing novel photocatalysts, multi-valent battery electrode materials, Li-ion battery electrode materials, polar materials, and liquid electrolytes. The Materials Project, which she directs, is a multi-national effort to compute the properties of all inorganic materials and provide this data and associated analysis algorithms free of charge, with the ultimate goal of drastically reducing the time needed to invent new materials for societal needs.

Her recent publications reveal a strong trend toward data-driven materials discovery, with significant focus on battery materials (particularly zinc-ion and lithium-ion systems), sustainable materials design, and the development of computational frameworks for materials prediction. There's a clear emphasis on machine learning applications in materials science, as well as growing interest in circular economy approaches for materials and chemical recycling.

• Member of the National Academy of Engineers (NAE)
• 2024 Distinguished Scientist Fellow by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science
• Foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Fellow of the Materials Research Society
• Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS)
• Cyril Stanley Smith Award recipient
• Recognized by Web of Science as top 1% highly cited researcher

Professor Persson has mentored numerous graduate students and postdocs, many of whom have received prestigious fellowships and awards. Her research is supported by significant grants from the Department of Energy, including through the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) and the Electrolyte Genome project. She has led several major computational initiatives that have been recognized with the Secretary of Energy Honor Award.

The Persson Group operates within the Energy Sciences Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, collaborating closely with the Molecular Foundry (which she directs) and maintaining strong connections with experimental groups at JCAP (Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis) and other DOE-funded centers. The group follows a public group handbook that emphasizes collaborative research practices and open science principles.