Kelsey Hatzell wins SEAS junior faculty award

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Kelsey Hatzell in a lab

Kelsey Hatzell. Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

May 16, 2023

Kelsey Hatzell, an expert in batteries and energy storage, has won the Alfred Rheinstein Faculty Award from Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science, one of the school's annual honors for junior faculty.

An assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Hatzell is a specialist in solid-state batteries. Her research explores fundamental questions related to dynamic processes that occur at solid-solid and solid-liquid interfaces in batteries and energy conversion systems, along with translational work related to battery manufacturing. 

For her work, she has received numerous accolades, including an NSF CAREER Award, a Young Investigator Program award from the Office of Naval Research, an early career grant from NASA, a Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a POLiS Award of Excellence for Female Researchers, and an ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship. Prior to joining Princeton in 2021, Hatzell was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt University.

“Kelsey’s research achievements have distinguished her as a rising young leader in the areas of energy and electrochemistry,” said department chair Howard Stone in his nomination of Hatzell. “Her research group has made significant contributions to the field of solid-state batteries, and she has emerged as a world leader in in situ and operando synchrotron characterization of solid-solid interfaces.”

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