Research Interests
Development of low-cost, supply-chain-friendly, durable materials for energy storage (batteries), involving new materials design, novel synthesis, advanced characterization, prototype device fabrication, and fundamental understanding of structure-property-performance relationships.
Bio
Dr. Manthiram graduated from Madurai University, India, with a B.S. degree in 1974 and a M. S. degree in 1976. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras with a Ph.D. degree in Solid State Chemistry in 1980. After his doctoral degree, Dr. Manthiram worked as a Lecturer at the Madurai Kamaraj University in Madurai for four years, and as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford in England for one year. He joined the University of Texas at Austin as a postdoctoral researcher in 1986 and became Assistant Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1991. He was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2000, and he currently holds the George T. & Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering. He served as the Director of the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Program for 11 years during 2011 - 2022.
Dr. Manthiram directs a large, productive research group in electrochemical energy technologies with about 30 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. He has trained and mentored more than 300 students and postdoctoral researchers, including the graduation of 77 PhD students and 30 M.S. students. Among them, 60 are faculty around the world and several hold leadership positions in industry. His current research is focused on rechargeable batteries. Specifically, his group is engaged in developing low-cost, efficient, durable materials for batteries and a fundamental understanding of their structure-property-performance relationships. Dr. Manthiram has authored more than 1,000 journal articles and 21 issued patents. He has given more than 500 presentations, including more than 400 invited talks around the world. He has more than 135,000 citations and an h-index of 177. Dr. Manthiram is ranked overall #69 for lifetime and #6 for the prior five years in all fields in the world and #5 for lifetime and #2 for the prior five years in materials science and engineering in the world by ScholarGPS. It is based on multi-level, quantitative ranking of scholars in terms of their productivity as well as the quality and impact of their scholarly work. See https://scholargps.com/scholar-rankings
Dr. Manthiram has received several awards: Engineering Foundation Faculty Excellence Award (1994), Mechanical Engineering Faculty Leadership Award (1996), Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award (2011), University of Texas Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award (one university-wide award per year, 2012), Battery Division Research Award from the Electrochemical Society (2014), Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2015), Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering Research Award (2016), Honorary Mechanical Engineer of the ME Academy of Distinguished Alumni Award (2019), Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching from the Electrochemical Society (2020), Research Award from the International Battery Materials Association (2020), Battery Division Technology Award from the Electrochemical Society (2021), Inaugural John B. Goodenough Award from the Electrochemical Society (2023), Yeager Award for Lifetime Achievement from the International Battery Materials Association (2024), Faraday Lecture Award from the Central Electrochemical Research Institute in India (2025), and Olin Palladium Award from the Electrochemical Society (2025). He is an elected Fellow of six societies: American Ceramic Society (2004), Electrochemical Society (2011), American Association for the Advancement of Science (2015), Royal Society of Chemistry (2015), Materials Research Society (2016), and National Academy of Inventors (2023. He is also an elected academician of the World Academy of Ceramics (2020). He has been honored with various endowment awards: Charlotte Maer Patton Centennial Fellowship in Engineering (1998), Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professorship in Engineering (2002), BF Goodrich Endowed Professorship in Materials Engineering (2006), Jack S. Josey Professorship in Energy Studies (2008), Joe C. Walter Chair in Engineering (2009), Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering (2014), and George T. & Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering (2022). He delivered the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm on behalf of Professor John Goodenough.
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