Martin Bazant

Background and Experience

Martin Zdenek Bazant is an American chemical engineer, mathematician, physicist, and academic. He is the E. G. Roos (1944) Professor of Chemical Engineering and Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 2016 to 2020, he served as executive officer of the department of chemical engineering. Bazant is well recognized for his teaching and research in electrochemistry, electrokinetics, transport phenomena, and applied mathematics. He was elected President of the International Electrokinetics Society and Fellow of the American Physical Society, the International Society of Electrochemistry, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also the chief scientific advisor of Saint-Gobain Research North America and chief scientist and co-founder of Lithios.

Bazant earned a B.S. in mathematics and physics in 1992 and an M.S. in applied mathematics in 1993 from the University of Arizona. Subsequently, he undertook research in physics for a Ph.D. at Harvard University, under the supervision of E. Kaxiras, and graduated in 1997. He then spent a year at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow in engineering and applied sciences under the guidance of Howard A. Stone.

Awards and Honors

• Elected, Member of the National Academy of Engineering, 2025
• Electrochemical Society Fellow, 2023
• Inaugural President, International Electrokinetics Society (IES), 2022
• MIT Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) Infinite Mile Award, 2020
• MITx Prize for Teaching and Learning in MOOCs, 2019
• Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2018
• Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering, 2018
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FSRC), 2017
• Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry, 2017
• Named inaugural E. G. Roos (1944) Professor, 2016
• Bose Award for innovative and unconventional projects, 2015
• Alexander Kuznetsov Prize for Theoretical Electrochemistry, 2015
• Popular Science Brilliant Ten, 2007
• Joliot Chair and Paris Sciences Chair, ESPCI, 2007
• Department of Energy Early Career Award, 2002
• Paris Sciences Chair, ESPCI, 2002