Edward Maginn, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Members are selected by their peers for pioneering advancements in their fields and for leadership in major engineering endeavors, including the development and implementation of innovative approaches to engineering education.
“I am honored and humbled to have been elected to such a distinguished group of scholars,” said Maginn, who also serves as an associate vice president of research. “I am grateful to my colleagues and students here at Notre Dame who I have had the privilege to work with in the development and application of molecular simulation methods to help tackle some of the most challenging problems in energy and sustainability facing society.”
Maginn is a globally recognized leader in research linking the physical properties of materials to their chemical composition. The NAE is recognizing him “for development and application of molecular modeling and simulation of complex systems involving slow dynamics and long-ranged interactions.”
Maginn’s research has had a major impact on chemical engineering by enabling engineers to design and optimize materials and processes at the molecular level for energy and environmental applications. By developing widely used computational tools and design methods, his research allows engineers to predict material performance before materials are synthesized, reducing development time, cost and risk. These advances have helped move molecular simulation from a specialized research tool into a practical engineering approach used in academia, industry and national laboratories worldwide.
A pioneer in the use of molecular simulations to investigate ionic liquids, Maginn developed new algorithms and open-source simulation tools that made predictive modeling of charged fluids both accurate and broadly accessible. He holds nine patents in this field, and his work led to the development of the open-source Monte Carlo package Cassandra, most commonly used to compute the thermodynamic properties of fluids.
“Ed Maginn’s foundational research in molecular simulation has helped shape modern chemical engineering,” said Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering. “His election to the National Academy of Engineering is a fitting recognition of his scientific leadership, innovation and lasting impact on the field.”
Maginn’s work has directly informed the development of new materials for carbon capture, energy storage, separations and sustainable refrigeration. He is an active contributor to the Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub, a National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Center, alongside 11 other Notre Dame faculty members. He also participates in two Energy Frontier Research Centers supported by the Department of Energy: Breakthrough Electrolytes for Energy Storage and Molten Salts in Extreme Environments.
Maginn has published more than 270 peer-reviewed papers with more than 34,000 citations. He has written 10 book chapters. Maginn has been a senior editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry and served on the editorial boards for leading publications in his field, including the Journal of Ionic Liquids, Fluid Phase Equilibria and the Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Ed on the remarkable achievement of election to the NAE,” said Jeffrey F. Rhoads, the John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research and professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. “He is both a top researcher and highly respected administrator and educator — such an outstanding recognition for his tremendous research impact and national leadership is well-deserved.”
Since joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1995, Maginn has served as chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, as well as associate dean for academic programs in the Graduate School. Maginn is also recognized for his excellence in teaching, having received Notre Dame’s highest honors for faculty instruction: the James A. Burns, C.S.C., Award for Distinction in Graduate Education in 2018 and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2022. In addition, Maginn has mentored more than 35 doctoral students and over 20 postdoctoral scholars. He is a trustee and executive director of the nonprofit CACHE Corporation, which promotes the use of computational methods in chemical engineering.
Maginn was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in 2023. He was recently honored with the Ernest Thiele Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2021 and the Iowa State University College of Engineering Professional Achievement Citation in Engineering (PACE) award in 2020. Maginn is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Maginn graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, followed by a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
With his election to the NAE, Maginn joins a distinguished group of Notre Dame colleagues who have also received this honor, including Ahsan Kareem, the Robert M. Moran Professor of Engineering; Thomas Degnan, professor emeritus of chemical and biomolecular engineering; Frank Incropera, the Clifford and Evelyn Brosey Professor Emeritus of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering; Steve Walker, professor of the practice; and Charles Wampler, the Huisking Foundation, Inc. Collegiate Research Professor.
Originally posted at news.nd.edu by Erin Fennessy on February 10, 2026.