Shannon W. Boettcher (born 1979/1980) is an American chemist and professor. He teaches in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the
University of Oregon. His research is at the intersection of materials science and electrochemistry, with a focus on fundamental aspects of energy conversion and storage. He has been named a DuPont Young Professor, a
Cottrell Scholar, a
Sloan Fellow, and a
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.[1] An
ISI highly cited researcher (top 0.1% over past decade), in 2019 he founded the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry[2] and, in 2020, launched the nation's first targeted graduate program in electrochemical technology.[3] In 2021, he was named a
Blavatnik National Award Finalist.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
Academic career
Boettcher earned his B.A. from the
University of Oregon in 2003. He performed his undergraduate work performing research with Prof. Mark Lonergan on electronically conductive ionomers and conjugated-polymer/semiconductor interfaces. His PhD work (2003–2008) in inorganic materials chemistry was at the
University of California, Santa Barbara with
Prof. Galen Stucky where he was a
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a UC Chancellors Fellow. His work spanned the synthesis and study of porous transition metal oxides, photoelectrochemistry, and detailed studies of nanoparticle film electrochemistry and nanoparticle/semiconductor interfaces.[13]
He completed postdoctoral work at the
California Institute of Technology as a Kavli Nanoscience Institute Prize Postdoctoral Fellow working with
Prof. Nathan Lewis (Chemistry) and
Prof. Harry Atwater (Applied Physics) studying three-dimensional semiconductor architectures for solar photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic applications.[14][15] He started as an assistant professor at the University of Oregon in 2010. In the spring of 2012, a profile appeared on Boettcher's work, his background, and perspective in The Oregon Quarterly.[16]