Dr. John Scott Newman is a distinguished emeritus professor and pioneering figure in electrochemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, having joined the Berkeley faculty shortly after completing his doctorate in 1963 and achieving full professorship in 1970. Dr. Newman also maintained a significant research presence at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a Faculty Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division. His academic journey began at UC Berkeley for graduate studies where he earned his master's degree in 1962 and doctoral degree in 1963, working under the guidance of Professor Charles Tobias on current distribution in porous electrodes.
Dr. Newman revolutionized electrochemical engineering through his development of sophisticated mathematical models for analyzing complex electrochemical systems, most notably The Newman Method for solving coupled electrochemical reaction-diffusion equations. His seminal textbook Electrochemical Systems, first published in 1973 and now in its fourth edition, has become the definitive reference in the field with over 8928 citations according to Google Scholar. His 1993 paper Modeling of galvanostatic charge and discharge of the lithium/polymer/insertion cell has been cited 4819 times and established the theoretical foundation for modern lithium-ion battery modeling. These contributions have enabled critical advances in battery technology for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, with his modeling approaches now standard practice across academia and industry worldwide.
Beyond his research, Dr. Newman has profoundly shaped the field through his mentorship of thirty master's and forty-three doctoral students, seventeen of whom have become faculty members as of 2008, creating an extensive academic lineage that continues to advance electrochemical engineering. He served as associate editor for the Journal of the Electrochemical Society for a decade beginning in 1990, significantly influencing the direction of research publication in the field. Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999 for his contributions to applied electrochemistry, Dr. Newman's legacy endures through the John S. Newman Early Career Scientist program at Berkeley Lab which supports the next generation of energy researchers. His systematic approach to modeling electrochemical systems remains foundational to contemporary research in battery technology and energy storage solutions critical for addressing global sustainability challenges.
