Chris Wolverton

Christopher Wolverton (commonly known as Chris Wolverton) is an American materials scientist who is the Frank C. Engelhart Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. He is known for his work in high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations, computational materials design, and for founding the Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD), a large open database of computed materials properties used worldwide for materials discovery. His research spans batteries, hydrogen storage, thermoelectrics, and other energy-related materials, often combining first-principles calculations with machine learning and materials informatics.

Education and career Wolverton received his B.S. degree in physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Computational discovery and optimization of thermoelectric materials with low lattice thermal conductivity and high power factors. Use of machine learning and materials informatics to analyze large materials datasets, screen structure–property relationships, and accelerate the search for functional materials.

According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited tens of thousands of times and he has an h-index over 100.

Awards and honors Materials Research Society Theory Award (2025), for contributions to computational materials theory and high-throughput materials discovery. Chen, P. C.; Liu, M.; Du, J. S.; Meckes, B.; Wang, S.; Lin, H.; Dravid, V. P.; Wolverton, C.; Mirkin, C. A. "Interface and heterostructure design in polyelemental nanoparticles." Science 363, 959–964 (2019). Ren, F.; Ward, L.; Williams, T.; Laws, K. J.; Wolverton, C.; Hattrick-Simpers, J.; Mehta, A. "Accelerated discovery of metallic glasses through iteration of machine learning and high-throughput experiments." Science Advances 4, eaaq1566 (2018). Kim, S.; Aykol, M.; Hegde, V. I.; Lu, Z.; Kirklin, S.; Croy, J. R.; Thackeray, M. M.; Wolverton, C. "Material design of high-capacity Li-rich layered-oxide electrodes." Energy & Environmental Science 10, 2201–2211 (2017). Hill, J.; Mulholland, G.; Persson, K.; Seshadri, R.; Wolverton, C.; Meredig, B. "Materials science with large-scale data and informatics." MRS Bulletin 41, 399–409 (2016).