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David Kisailus
Henry Samueli Faculty Excellence Professor and Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences at University of California, Irvine
David Kisailus is a distinguished professor and researcher in the field of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).15 He holds the prestigious position of Henry Samueli Faculty Excellence Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCI and is also a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences.45
Academic Background
Kisailus has an extensive educational background in engineering and materials science:
- Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University (1993)
- Master's degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida (1999)
- Ph.D. in Materials Science from UC Santa Barbara (2002)1
After completing his doctorate, he pursued postdoctoral research in molecular biology at UC Santa Barbara before working as a research scientist at HRL Laboratories.1
Research Focus
Professor Kisailus's research is centered on biomineralized composites and their applications in developing advanced materials. His work aims to:
- Investigate structure-functional relationships in biological and biomimetic materials
- Interpret mineralization pathways that influence resulting ultra structures
- Develop lightweight and tough materials inspired by nature
- Create next-generation materials for energy conversion, storage, and environmental applications1
Career Highlights
Before joining UCI, Kisailus held the position of Winston Chung Endowed Chair of Energy Innovation at UC Riverside.1 He is also a member of the UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage network.5
Outreach and Education
Kisailus is actively involved in educational outreach. In May 2022, he gave a tour of his lab, showcasing how his research draws inspiration from animals to create inventions. During this tour, he demonstrated unique specimens like mantis shrimp capable of breaking glass.3
David Kisailus's LinkedIn username is david-kisailus-33a9304, as mentioned in the query.2
Highlights
A little over a year ago, my colleague, Prof. Jocelyne DiRuggiero (Johns Hopkins) and I published some nice work in Materials Today Bio (DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100493) about microbes that utilize biofilms to extract nutrients necessary for metabolism from geologic substrates:
Inspired from this work, we launch a new multi-PI effort (UC Irvine, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, PNNL) with collaborators from AFRL, LBNL, BNL, and Rio Tinto, investigating fundamental mechanisms of how these biological systems bind to, and extract, critical elements from both terrestrial and lunar rock. Once again, a very special thank you to AFOSR for their support. Super excited about the potential for science and engineering here!
https://lnkd.in/gBjzQrHc
Promoting STEM via Bio-inspired Materials in MSE@UCI! Outreach event today in our Biomimetics and Nanostructured Materials Lab. Today, we had about 80 parents, students and alumni visit our lab for Homecoming weekend. Getting people more excited about Materials Science is easy when you have cool organisms, dedicated grad students, staff, and parents willing to donate their Saturday! Shout outs to Taige Hao and Andrew Nguyen (grad students in my lab); Amy Ricks, Desiree Rios, Darryl Mack, Seung Min Ha (staff in MSE) and our AFOSR and ARO funding agencies! Thank you all! #science #thankyou #stem #gratitude
