On December 13, 2023, Kristin Persson announced that she will be stepping down from her position as Director of the Molecular Foundry as of July 1, 2024. She will remain at Berkeley Lab in her capacity as a Faculty Senior Scientist and Director of the Materials Project in addition to her role as a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley.
During her tenure, the Molecular Foundry’s scientific programs and operations flourished, and its staff and users continue to produce a wealth of world-class science, maintaining the Molecular Foundry’s position as a premier DOE Nanoscale Science Research Center and national user facility. She overhauled the Foundry’s research themes, built a new management team, engaged a new Scientific Advisory Board, hired multiple outstanding scientific and operations staff, including standing up a new cross-cutting technical facility focused on Data Science and Digital Infrastructure.
Under Kristin’s leadership, the Molecular Foundry’s budget increased by more than 23% in FY23, the largest increase in more than a decade; the NSRC Upgrade project has led to the acquisition of major new instrumentation, including two new electron microscopes and an autonomous synthesis cluster; and she led the commissioning of multiple new QIS instruments, including the new quantum SPLEEM, and reinvigorated the Foundry’s recapitalization program.
During her tenure, Kristin continued to lead a world-leading research program in computational materials, based both at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley as Daniel M. Tellep Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Under her leadership as its founding director, the Materials Project has continued to flourish and grow, and it is now home to the computed and measured properties of more than 150,000 materials and serves more than 400,000 users. Its strong upward trajectory has created many new opportunities and uniquely positions it as central for accelerating materials discovery with advances in AI, as recently exemplified by its partnership with Google and the success of A-lab. While Foundry Director, Kristin received the 2023 Cyril Stanley Smith Award, the 2022 Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award, and the 2020 Falling Walls Award in Science and Innovation Management, and she was inducted as a fellow of AAAS, APS and MRS.
An international search for her successor will be launched in January 2024.
