David Kisailus

Dr. Kisailus comes to UCI from UC Riverside where he was the Winston Chung Endowed Chair of Energy Innovation. He is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage network. Kisailus earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Drexel University in 1993, his master’s degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida in 1999 and a doctorate in materials science from UC Santa Barbara in 2002. After graduating, he served as a postdoctoral researcher in molecular biology at UC Santa Barbara, then went to HRL Laboratories as a research scientist. His research focuses on investigating biomineralized composites in order to derive not only structure-functional relationships (for development of lightweight and tough materials), but also in interpreting mineralization pathways that dictate resulting ultra structures. The ultimate goal is to be able to leverage lessons from nature to develop next-generation materials for energy conversion and storage as well as for environmental applications.

In his free time he likes to travel, eat good food, and sing karaoke.