Marder to head up RASEI, with joint appointments at ChBE and Chemistry
Seth Marder
Next summer, renowned chemist and researcher Seth Marder will join the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute as director and will begin joint appointments at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as a senior research fellow and at ˛ĘĂń±¦µä’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Department of Chemistry.
“After over 17 very enjoyable years at , I am excited and humbled to begin a new chapter in my life at the ˛ĘĂń±¦µä, where I will be working with many extremely talented people on problems of scientific and societal importance,” Marder said.
Marder currently serves at Georgia Tech as the director of the , the Georgia Power Chair of Energy Efficiency and Regents’ Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He also has a courtesy appointment as professor of Materials Science and Engineering.
“I would like to thank all the stakeholders who afforded me the chance to bridge chemistry and chemical and biomolecular engineering on the academic side—and between the ˛ĘĂń±¦µä and NREL—as incoming director of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy institute,” Marder said. “This truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I know I will cherish.”
“We are extremely excited for Seth’s arrival here within RASEI,” co-interim directors Carrie Eckert and Gregor Henze said in a statement. “Not only does he bring a highly successful research team, he brings a strong, proven and unifying leadership that will invigorate and advance the impact of our institute and partnership with NREL.”
Marder’s time as CU will also include joint appointments within both the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
“Seth is a world-renowned researcher in development of organic materials for optics, electronics and renewable energy applications,” said Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering J. Will Medlin. “His hiring places our department and university in a world-leading position in the critical area of organic photovoltaics.”
“Professor Seth Marder is a distinguished physical organic chemist who has made significant contributions to renewable energy research,” said Professor and Department of Chemistry Chair David Jonas. “Faculty in the Department of Chemistry are very happy that he will be joining us and becoming director of RASEI.”
Over the course of his career, Marder has earned appointments to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, the National Academy of Inventors, the Optical Society of America, SPIE, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the World Cultural Council. He has also served on numerous journal advisory boards and is the founding chair of the Editorial Board for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal, .
His numerous awards include an NSF Special Creativity Award Extension, the Lew Allen Award for Research, the MRS Mid-Career Award, the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award and many others.
Marder earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from MIT in 1978 and his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford until 1987 and then took a position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech. He has gone on to earn 39 granted patents and mentor about 250 students, postdocs and visiting researchers.