Charles Musgrave University of Utah Dean https://profile.usu.edu/images/utah-energy-conference/speakers/charles-musgrave.png Charles B. Musgrave is Dean of the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering at the University of Utah, where he also holds faculty appointments in Chemical Engineering and in Materials Science and Engineering. Since becoming dean in July 2024, he has worked to prepare the college for a time of accelerating technological change. He is growing its research in areas of national importance, including energy, critical materials and AI-enabled engineering, and building closer partnerships with industry, national labs and the state. The college is home to the Utah Nuclear Engineering Program and its TRIGA reactor. Musgrave sees advanced nuclear as a key strategy for meeting the region's growing demand for reliable, carbon-free power.</p> <p>Musgrave's research uses quantum mechanical simulation and machine learning to understand and design materials and molecules for energy conversion and storage. His group develops electronic structure methods for surfaces and electrified interfaces. It applies them to electrocatalysts, battery materials, photovoltaic absorbers and redox materials. He has also collaborated with NASA and Idaho National Laboratory on research related to nuclear thermal propulsion. He has published widely on surface chemistry, thin film deposition, electrochemical energy systems and has supervised more than 40 PhD graduates.</p> <p>Before joining Utah, Musgrave spent 16 years at the University of Colorado Boulder as Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, where he served as department chair and as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. He held a joint appointment with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and was a Fellow of CU's Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute. Earlier, he was on the chemical engineering faculty at Stanford University for 12 years and was a visiting professor at Harvard. </p> <p>His honors include the inaugural Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, CU Boulder's Faculty Assembly Award for Excellence in Research, and the CU Boulder College of Engineering's Outstanding Research Award. He earned his BS from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MS and PhD from Caltech, and did postdoctoral research at MIT.