Michel W. Barsoum, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been named a 2023 National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow. This is the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors, recognizing those who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions with a tangible impact on society.
Barsoum is an internationally recognized leader in MAX phases and MXenes materials research, with over 550 publications and 100,000 citations. His seminal contributions include discovering the ripplocation deformation mechanism in layered solids and the MAX phases in 1996, which are precursors to MXenes. MXenes, two-dimensional materials discovered by Barsoum’s PhD student in 2011, have sparked global research interest due to their potential applications.
Barsoum’s honors include election as a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and recipient of the 2020 International Ceramics Prize for basic science. He is also recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher.
The 2022 NAI Fellow class includes members from 110 research institutions worldwide, collectively holding over 5,000 issued U.S. patents.
