Paul R. Ohodnicki Jr.

Paul R. Ohodnicki Jr. is currently RK Mellon Faculty Fellow in Energy in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science department at the University of Pittsburgh with a secondary appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. In addition, he is the Engineering Science program director and founding director of the Advanced Magnetics for Power and Energy Development (AMPED) consortium, a university – industry – government collaborative partnership focused on educating next generation workforce at the intersection between new soft magnetic materials, device applications, and system level for renewable integration and vehicle electrification. He also serves as Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of CorePower Magnetics, an early-stage startup seeking to commercialize a portfolio of intellectual property developed during his time as an employee at the US Department of Energy. Prior to current roles, he was a materials scientist and technical portfolio lead in the Functional Materials Team of the Materials Engineering & Manufacturing Directorate of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. He graduated from University of Pittsburgh in 2005 with a B.Phil. in engineering physics and a B.A. in economics and subsequently earned his M.S. (2006) and Ph.D. (2008) in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Ohodnicki has published more than 200 technical publications and holds more than 30 patents, with more than 30 additional patents under review. He also is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the R&D 100 Award (2019, 2022, 2023), Federal Employee Rookie of the Year Award (2012), Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (2016), and the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Innovation Category Award for the Carnegie Science Center (2012, 2017, 2019). In 2017, he was a nominee for the Samuel J. Heyman service to America Medal.