Evan Walter Clark Spotte-Smith

My name is Evan Walter Clark Spotte-Smith, and I’m a chemist with a background in materials science, electrochemistry, and energy storage. Currently, I work as an Ad Astra Fellow and Assistant Professor of Digital Chemistry at University College Dublin (UCD) in the Republic of Ireland. I am also an Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the United States. I founded the Community of Researchers Assessing Chemical Transformations and Exploring Reactivity (CoReACTER), an anti-oppressive, non-hierarchical, and democratic research organization.

In my research, I use mathematical analysis, computational simulations (e.g., quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics), and data science (e.g., reaction networks, machine learning) to understand reactivity in complex environments. Much of my recent work has focused on applications in electrolyte decomposition in metal-ion (especially Li-ion and Mg-ion) batteries and electrochemical synthesis, but I’m broadly interested in electrochemistry, catalysis, and sustainability. I’ve also been thinking about scientific and chemical ethics, the mathematics of hypergraphs (particularly as they relate to reaction networks), and solid-state materials synthesis.

Background

Before joining UCD, I was a Carnegie Bosch Institute Fellow, collaborating with Prof. Rachel Kurchin in the Materials Science and Engineering department at CMU, and before that, I completed a brief postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Gabe dos Passos Gomes, also at CMU.

I obtained my PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where I was advised by Prof. Kristin Aslaug Persson. During my PhD studies, I held the Philomathia Graduate Student Fellowship through the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute.

Prior to attending UC Berkeley, I received my Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from Columbia University in 2019. During my undergraduate education, I conducted research on nanoparticle self-assembly dynamics with Irving P. Herman and explored organic reactions for thermochemical energy storage applications with Anubhav Jain and Ravi Prasher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

More information can be found in my full CV.