Dr. Michelle Johannes, a physicist in the Materials Science and Technology Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), was recently named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, through the Division of Computational Physics. Dr. Johannes is recognized for computational work that has made a strong impact in novel superconductivity, magnetism, charge density waves, and battery electrode materials. Her calculations have contributed to understanding and explaining the underlying physics that governs the properties of widely diverse materials.
Dr. Johannes received her bachelor's degree in physics from Mount Holyoke College in 1993 and her Ph.D in computational physics from the University of California at Davis in 2003. She worked as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at NRL and then was hired as a staff member in 2005.
Dr. Johannes's early work focused on superconductivity and magnetism and particularly on the interaction between the two. She studied the iron-based superconductors, discovered in 2008, and along with Dr. Igor Mazin, also at NRL, and Dr. David Singh, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, formulated the theory that is now widely accepted to explain the mechanism by which these materials superconduct. Dr. Johannes's more recent work has concentrated on the materials that comprise rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Her computational studies of the underlying mechanisms controlling transport, stability, and ionic mobility help point toward new materials that will enhance the lifetime and efficiency of batteries.
Dr. Johannes is currently the head of the Nanoscience Institute program Li intercalation in Nanoscale Electrode Materials. She won the Sigma Xi Young Investigator award in 2011.
The American Physical Society elects to Fellowship from among its members, those who have contributed to the advancement of physics by independent, original research or who have rendered some other special service to the cause of the sciences.