EMSL’s Mark Engelhard Elected Director for AVS

Mark Engelhard, a chemist with a Department of Energy scientific user facility, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), has been elected to a directorial position with the AVS Science and Technology Society.

As the AVS director, Engelhard’s duties will include setting the society’s strategic direction, approving budgets and conference plans, providing oversight on committee activities, overseeing the status of the society's five journals, and approving or assessing fellow selections.

“I am honored to have been elected AVS director for the 2022–2023 term,” Engelhard said. “AVS has been a critical part of my professional development, and I am committed to giving back by preserving and growing the organization.”

Engelhard joined the AVS in 1990 and has been actively involved in the society at both the national and regional levels. He currently serves as the chair of the Applied Surface Science Division (ASSD), as a member of the AVS Topical Conference, as part of the Recommended Practices Committees, and is an editorial board member of Surface Science Spectra. He previously served as chair of the AVS Publications Committee and was a member of the AVS Finance, Membership, and Marketing and Communications committees. He has contributed to two AVS program committees and on several ASSD Surface Analysis and Quantitative Surface Analysis topical conference committees.

Since 1980, Engelhard has used and adapted surface-sensitive techniques, particularly X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, to study surfaces and interphases important to environmental, energy, and catalytic materials and systems. He has worked as a principal investigator and scientist on fundamental and applied research projects that involved collaborations with academic, government, and industrial partners. Engelhard was named a highly cited researcher by Clarivate Analytics in 2018, 2019, and 2020. He has collaboratively published more than 600 peer-reviewed journal articles, including 6 book chapters, with over 37,000 citations. Engelhard recently reached a Hirsch index (H-Index) of 100.