UC Santa Barbara chemical engineering professor Rachel Segalman has received a distinguished honor within the scientific community by being elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a commendation bestowed upon less than 1 percent of AAAS members each year. She is among 471 scientists, engineers, and innovators who comprise the 2024 Class of AAAS Fellows. The association is the world’s largest general scientific society and publishes the Science family of journals. Segalman was honored for her “distinguished contributions advancing the discipline of chemistry by identifying fundamental polymer-ion interactions and the development of design rules for materials for energy and environmental applications.
The Edward Noble Kramer Professor of Materials says that she is particularly excited by the commendation because “it recognizes our very recent work on the design of polymer membranes for both electrochemical applications in solid-state batteries and for water purification.”
Segalman works to control the self-assembly, structure, and properties in functional polymers. Structural control over soft matter through microscopic length scales is a key tool for optimizing properties in applications ranging from solar and thermal energy to biomaterials. Her work has provided key insights into the molecular basis for the thermoelectric effect in organic molecules, an essential step to subsequent advances in organic thermoelectrics, a field in which she has emerged as a pioneer through her fundamental advances in the science of molecular thermoelectrics and engineering their design. She has also established important connections between the molecular and mesoscale structure of polymers and their ability to transport electronic and ionic charge, most recently demonstrating superionic conduction in polymers.
An elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, Segalman also has received the Ernest Orlando Award in Condensed Matter for Materials Science, the Department of Energy’s highest scientific honor for mid-career engineers, and one of the most prestigious prizes awarded by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering. She is also a Fellow of the AIChE, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society.
Segalman and the other newly elected Fellows will be honored in Washington, D.C. in June.
“This year’s class of Fellows are the embodiment of scientific excellence and service to our communities,” said Sudip S. Parikh, Ph.D., AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. “At a time when the future of the scientific enterprise in the U.S. and around the world is uncertain, their work demonstrates the value of sustained investment in science and engineering.”
