Yogesh Surendranath

Yogesh Surendranath is Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his group bridges electrochemistry and heterogeneous catalysis to address energy and sustainability challenges.

Education:

• Miller Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Berkeley, 2011–2013
• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011
• B.S. in Chemistry, University of Virginia, 2006

Research Interests:
His program integrates electrocatalysis, interfacial engineering and reaction mechanism elucidation to advance CO₂ utilization, thermochemical–electrochemical coupling, molten-salt chemistry and sustainable fuel synthesis. Recent work reveals how electric fields, local pH and electrolyte organization control both electrochemical and classic thermochemical reactions.

Publication trends 2022-2025:
More than 75 peer-reviewed articles focus on electrochemical promotion of thermochemical catalysis, proton-coupled electron transfer at graphite and oxide interfaces, CO₂/CO electro-reduction mechanisms, bipolar-membrane energy recovery, and high-temperature molten-salt electrosynthesis. Studies increasingly combine operando spectroscopy, potentiometry and kinetic modelling to connect molecular-scale charge transfer with macroscopic catalytic rates.

Honours & Awards:

• Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry, ACS (2020)
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (2019)
• E. Bright Wilson Prize, Harvard (2019)
• CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2018)
• Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (2018)
• Cottrell Scholar Award (2017)
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2016)
• Toyota Young Investigator Award, ECS (2015)
• DOE, AFOSR & NSF CAREER Young Investigator Awards (2015)

Funding & Team:
Research is supported by NSF, DOE-BES, AFOSR, Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, Toyota and others. The Surendranath group maintains active collaborations with MIT departments of Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering, and with national laboratories.