Chris Bartel Named 2026 McKnight Land-Grant Professor

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/03/2026) — We are proud to share that Assistant Professor Chris Bartel has been named a 2026 McKnight Land Grant Professor!

The goal of the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship Program is to advance the careers of assistant professors at a crucial point in their professional lives. The designation of “McKnight Land-Grant Professor” is held by recipients for a two-year period.

The McKnight Land-Grant Professorship will support Bartel’s research in computational materials science. Read the description of his research below.

Computational Design of Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage Applications
Solid-state materials underpin nearly all technologies, from computer processors to batteries. The Bartel group is working to discover new materials that are more efficient, more affordable, and more sustainably sourced. Their research applies computational methods that resolve the properties of materials at the atomic scale, leveraging recent advances in artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery process. Through close collaboration with experimental researchers, they test their predictions and improve their models for materials design.

Congratulations, Chris Bartel! Learn more about his research group on their group website.