Biography:Rachel Carter
Rachel A. Carter is an American mechanical engineer whose research focuses on rechargeable batteries for energy storage, including improvements to the design of sodium–sulfur batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and sodium-ion batteries.[1][2][3] She is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Kansas.[4]
Education and career
Carter is the granddaughter of Donald L. Kinser,[5] a mechanical engineering professor at Vanderbilt University;[2] her mother, Cynthia D. Kinser, became Chief Justice of Virginia.[5] She chose mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt for both her undergraduate and graduate education,[2] completing her Ph.D. there in 2017[4] under the supervision of Cary Pint. Her doctoral research involved the development of the first room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries.[2][5]
In 2017, she joined the United States Naval Research Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher, working there on the safety of lithium-ion batteries in aerospace applications with Corey T. Love. She became a full-time researcher at the Naval Research Laboratory in 2019, at the same time changing her focus to the design of sodium-ion batteries.[2] In 2026, she moved to the University of Kansas as an associate professor.[4]
Recognition
Carter was a 2025 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Presidential Awards Spotlight Naval Research Excellence, Naval Research Laboratory, February 11, 2025, https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Media/News/Article/4062808/presidential-awards-spotlight-naval-research-excellence/, retrieved 2026-05-28
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Patel, Prachi (May 17, 2024), ""Using abundant materials to make safer batteries": Rachel Carter", Chemical & Engineering News 102 (15), https://cen.acs.org/articles/102/i15/Rachel-Carter.html, retrieved 2026-05-28
- ↑ Crew, Bec (December 16, 2019), "Rachel Carter: Taking Charge", Nature Index, https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/five-leading-early-career-researchers-in-materials-science, retrieved 2026-05-28
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Rachel A Carter", People (KU Mechanical Engineering), https://me.ku.edu/people/rachel-carter, retrieved 2026-05-28
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Carter, Rachel (2017), Room Temperature Sulfur Battery Cathode Design and Processing Techniques, Vanderbilt University, ProQuest 2006428649
External links
- Rachel Carter publications indexed by Google Scholar
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