Dr. Michael Freund is the Director of the Clean Technologies Research Institute (CTRI) and holds the Harry Shirreff Chair of Chemical Research. He is an international expert in electrochemistry, electrocatalysis, and polymer/material science, collaborating with researchers in Canada and the US (Caltech and MIT) including involvement in an internationally recognized NSF Center for Chemical Innovation on Solar Fuels. The results of Dr. Freund’s work have been covered in the popular press (including American Scientist, Nature, and Discover Magazine), have appeared in over 120 peer reviewed articles (>9,600 citations, h-51) and have resulted in 29 issued US patents and 15 international patents.
Dr. Freund received his PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1992 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. His academic career has included positions at Lehigh University, Caltech and the University of Manitoba where he was Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Electronic Materials. During his time at the University of Manitoba, he established the Manitoba Institute for Materials (materials.umanitoba.ca) by securing over $15M in federal funding and partnering with the Field Electron and Ion Company (FEI). Since his arrival at Dalhousie University in late 2018, he has raised over $10M in federal and provincial funding to support research energy and material science and established the Leaders in Energy Sustainability NSERC CREATE training program (energy.dal.ca).