Iwnetim Abate to receive MRS award for renewable energy

The Materials Research Society has named MIT Assistant Professor Iwnetim Abate the recipient of the MRS Nelson “Buck” Robinson Science and Technology Award for Renewable Energy, recognizing his innovative research into new approaches for sustainable energy production.
 
The John Chipman Career Development Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), Abate explores how materials and chemical reactions can be harnessed to develop more sustainable technologies for energy storage, chemical production, and resource extraction. His research connects the fundamental science of redox reactions, in which atoms or ions gain or lose electrons, with applications ranging from battery materials to hydrogen and ammonia production using geological resources.
 
“This recognition is especially meaningful because it reflects the collective efforts of my students, postdoctoral researchers, and collaborators to uncover fundamental principles of redox chemistry and translate them into new approaches for sustainable energy storage and chemical production,” Abate said in an MRS announcement released September 18.
 
In an award letter to Abate, MRS President Young-Chang Joo wrote that the selection subcommittee recognized his “pioneering contributions to renewable energy,” including research into redox mechanisms and their role in energy technologies, subsurface geochemical systems for sustainable hydrogen and ammonia production, and early efforts to translate scientific discoveries into practical applications.
 
Polina Anikeeva, head of DMSE, praised Abate’s scientific creativity and its potential to advance a more sustainable energy future.
 
“He is asking important questions at the intersection of materials science, chemistry, and earth science and finding novel ways to address the energy challenges we face,” she said.
 
The award will be presented at the 2026 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit in Boston in November. At the meeting, Abate will deliver a talk titled “How Redox Reshapes Matter—From Energy Materials to Subsurface Chemical Production,” exploring the connections between his work on energy materials and geological chemical processes.
 
Abate received a 2024 MIT Bose Research Grant, which supported his development of a reactor to produce hydrogen from underground rocks. His related work on producing ammonia from rocks earned him recognition as one of MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (TR35) in 2025. Also that year, he received the International Society for Solid State Ionics Young Scientist Award for his research in solid-state ionics, the study of how ions move through solids that underpins technologies such as batteries and fuel cells.