alexander-urban

Alexander Urban

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering

Alex Urban studies materials and processes that enable clean energy technologies. His research combines atomic-scale modeling, machine learning, and data science to better understand energy storage and conversion.

Current projects address why batteries degrade over time, what limits electrolyzer efficiency, and how to recover critical metals from ores and spent batteries. He earned his Ph.D. at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, where he developed a coarse-grained electronic structure method, and later conducted postdoctoral research at MIT and UC Berkeley. Before joining Columbia, he was an independent University Fellow at the University of St Andrews’ School of Chemistry. His honors include selection as a Scialog Fellow for Advanced Energy Storage (2019) and the NSF CAREER Award (2024).

Research Areas

  • Energy Storage and Conversion
  • Batteries and Fuel Cells
  • Electronic Structure of Materials
  • Materials Genomics
  • Machine Learning

Additional Information

  • Professional Experience
    • 2025– , Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University
    • 2019–2025, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University
    • 2018, Independent Research Fellow, School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, UK
    • 2017, Research Specialist, Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley
    • 2015–2017, Postdoctoral Associate, Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley
    • 2012–2015, Postdoctoral Associate, Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
  • Education
    • PhD (Dr. rer. nat.), Chemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg
    • MSc and BSc, Chemistry, Ruhr-University Bochum
  • Honors & Awards
    • 2024, NSF CAREER Award