Oliver Smithies Visiting Fellow
Academic Subjects: Materials Science, Strategic analysis
Dr. Steven Freilich is Director of Materials Science and Engineering, DuPont Central Research and Development (retired) and JISEA Executive-in-residence at Joint Institute for Strategy Energy Analysis, national Renewable Energy Laboratory.
- Core subject area: Materials science; the interface of science and corporate strategy
- Research interests: Materials science applications in resolving critical challenges of the energy transition; optimization of research portfolios in industry and academia with corporate, value chain, and societal needs
Dr Steven C. Freilich has recently served as Executive-in-Residence at the Princeton University Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, and currently holds a similar position in the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, having retired from DuPont after a 33-year career in research, research management, and business leadership.
In his final 12 years at DuPont, he served as the Director of Materials Science; in that role, Dr Freilich was responsible for developing and implementing the technology growth strategies in rapidly moving areas such as materials for energy, displays, printing, engineering polymers, and biomedical applications. He used his experience to impact corporate innovation through leadership at the interface of technology and markets, and drove extensive interactions between academic research and corporate strategy. Dr Freilich's published research focused on polymer physics and photoprocesses in organic materials, but his expertise contributed to a range of materials developments across multiple global value chains.
During his tenure as Director of Materials Science, Dr Freilich held the additional position of Chief Technology Officer of DuPont Electronics and Communication, and was appointed as the Chief Technology Advocate for North Asia. He has served on the boards of the United States Display Consortium, the DuPont-MIT Alliance, and was the Vice Chair of both the Advisory Panel for the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion and the Advisory Committee for the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center in the Department of Energy. He has also served on the advisory boards for Sandia National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the National Research Council of Canada.
