Daniel Schwalbe Koda, assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received the 2024 Early Career Research Program Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The five-year, approximately $875,000 grant will support the development of Schwalbe Coda’s theoretical and computational techniques to better understand how materials are synthesized at the atomic level. This approach is akin to creating a “virtual microscope” for materials science, and is intended to help design and manufacture next-generation materials, such as for energy storage and conversion.
At UCLA, Schwalbe Korda leads the Digital Synthesis Lab, which combines data analysis, machine learning, and high-performance computing to develop models that bridge the gap between computational prediction and experimentation.
Schwalbe Koda, who joined UCLA Samueli in March, was one of 91 young scientists from across the country selected to receive this year’s award. All proposed research projects are consistent with the goals of DOE’s eight major program directorates. Schwalbe-Koda’s project was selected by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
Among recent honors, Mr. Schwalbe-Korda was named a Shalog Fellow and named to Forbes magazine’s 2023 30 Under 30 list in the science category.
