Sossina Haile

Sossina Haile is a Joint Professor with Materials Science and Engineering and holds the endowed Walter P. Murphy Professorship in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University, additionally serving as a Professor of Applied Physics. She is Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy (ISEN). Her research focuses on elucidating the relationship between structure, chemistry, and properties in electrochemically functional materials for sustainable energy technologies, with a particular emphasis on proton-conducting solid electrolytes and thermochemical materials for hydrogen production. She currently advises/co-advise 14 doctoral students and 3 master’s students, having supervised over 40 completed theses and dissertations. Courses taught include 'Imperfections in Materials,' 'Solid State Electrochemistry,' and 'Sustainable Energy Engineering.'

Education: B.S. (MIT, 1986), M.S. (UC Berkeley, 1988), Ph.D. (MIT, 1992).

Research interests span protonic ceramic fuel cells, solid acid electrolytes, solar-driven thermochemical hydrogen production, and materials for energy storage. Her work integrates experimental and computational methods, with notable contributions to understanding grain boundary effects in ionic conductors and designing materials for high-efficiency energy systems.

Selected awards include the Kavli Distinguished Lectureship (2022), MRS Communications Lectureship (2021), and the Alexandra Navrotsky Award (2021). She has also been recognized for her outreach initiatives, including the 'Women Supporting Women in the Sciences' program delivering low-cost lab kits to African classrooms.

Labs/Teams: Co-Director of ISEN and leads interdisciplinary research teams focused on energy materials and sustainable technologies.