Manos Mavrikakis named Linnett Visiting Professor by the University of Cambridge

Manos Mavrikakis, the Ernest Micek Distinguished Chair, James A. Dumesic Professor, and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been appointed Linnett Visiting Professor by the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge beginning in the fall semester of 2025.

The Linnet Visiting Professorship is a prestigious award and the highest honor the University of Cambridge’s chemistry department can bestow on a foreign scientist.

The professorship was established in 1993 to honor the memory of John Wilfrid Linnett, department head and vice-chancellor of the university who passed in 1975. During his career, Linnett made substantial contributions in theoretical chemistry, mass spectrometry, atom recombination reactions, and many other areas of chemistry.

In his research, Mavrikakis focuses on atomic-scale materials design based on first-principles electronic structure calculations. His lab applies state-of-the-art theoretical methods to study a range of important surface phenomena including adsorption, diffusion and chemical reactions on a variety of thermal catalytic, electrocatalytic and semiconductor surfaces. 

He has earned a long list of honors over his career, including the Robert Burwell Lectureship in Catalysis from the North American Catalysis Society, the Gabor A. Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis from the American Chemical Society, election as fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Physical Society (APS), as well as awards from many other professional societies, universities, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has served as a faculty member for 25 years.

As Linnett Visiting Professor, Mavrikakis will present a series of talks in Cambridge and engage and consult with chemistry students and faculty during visits to the university.