Héctor Abruña, the Émile M. Chamot Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences has been awarded the 2025 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. The biennial prize, announced May 15, “recognizes an individual for exceptional and original research in a selected area of chemistry that has advanced the field in a major way.”
A public award ceremony and lecture will take place at Cornell later this year. In March 2026, the national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) will feature a symposium honoring Abruña and leading scientists in this field. The Dreyfus Prize includes an award of $250,000.
Abruña receives this honor, the Dreyfus Foundation’s most prestigious award, for his pivotal contributions to electrochemical processes, the topic selected by the foundation for this year’s prize. Abruña was honored “for revolutionizing the fundamental understanding of electrochemical interfaces using X-ray, TEM [transmission electron microscopy] and mass spectrometric methods and for the development of novel materials for electrochemical devices,” according to the foundation.
“Hector Abruña’s expertise in characterizing new materials, his leadership in energy research and his foresight in transforming progressive ideas into reality are coalescing into solutions to meet the energy needs of America and the world,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “I congratulate Professor Abruña on this tremendous honor and applaud the spirit of innovation that drives his research group. Under Tito’s leadership, their work exemplifies the culture of meaningful discovery in the College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University and the United States.”
“Tito Abruña is a driving force in Cornell’s research community,” said Joel Brock, director of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), which Abruña’s group uses frequently.
“His research has not only advanced the field of electrochemistry but has also elevated the capabilities of CHESS and inspired countless researchers across disciplines. His presence and leadership fuel a culture of innovation that extends beyond his own lab.”
Abruña has developed new techniques for the study of fuel cells and batteries and to achieve groundbreaking advances in light-emitting devices, sensors and biosensors. He has used these techniques to synthesize and optimize fundamentally new materials with enhanced performance applications for batteries, fuel cells and supercapacitors.
His work has also forged new paths in the development of molecular electronics that promise to reshape electrical power grid transmission, drive device miniaturization, and create the high-performance materials needed for batteries and fuel cells in new devices have the potential to empower the next generation of electric vehicles and aircraft.
“It is a great and deeply humbling honor to be awarded the 2025 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences,” Abruña said, “However, the real credit goes to all the people in my research group as well as collaborators, worldwide, who, for the past 43 years, have contributed with ideas, effort, dedication and loyalty. The credit and merit are theirs, and I will be, most humbly, accepting the award on their behalf.”
Abruña is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, as well as a fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry and of the Electrochemical Society.
His many awards and honors include the Electrochemical Society’s Grahame Award; the American Chemical Society’s Electrochemistry Award, National Award in Analytical Chemistry and the Global Energy Prize; the Royal Society’s Faraday Medal in Electrochemistry; and the International Society of Electrochemistry’s Electrochimica Acta Gold Medal and Frumkin Memorial Medal.
In 2024, Abruña was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award, one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. government. Working closely with his students, he is cofounder of several start-up companies including Factorial Energy, Ecolectro and Conamix.
This article originally appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.