Associate Professor of Chemistry
Associate Professor of Macromolecular Sci. & Eng.
B.S. Chemistry, Indiana University, 2004
B.S. Mathematics, Indiana University, 2004
Ph.D. Chemistry, Stanford University, 2010
Postdoctoral Fellow, Caltech, 2010-2011
DOE Early Career Award, Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences Program, 2021
Scialog Fellow, Negative Emissions Science, Research Corp. for Science Advancement, 2020
Cottrell Scholars Award, Research Corp. Science Advancement, 2019
Kavli Fellow, Kavli Frontiers of Science Program of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019
NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division, 2018
Dow Corning Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, 2017
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, National Research Council, 2008
Professor Charles C. L. McCrory was born in Bloomington, IN, but grew up in various cities and towns throughout Indiana, Kentucky, and Maryland. He returned to Bloomington, IN for high school and then attended Indiana University, Bloomington for his undergraduate studies as a Wells Scholar. He conducted his undergraduate research with the late Professor George E. Ewing studying the structure and composition of thin films of water on single-crystal salt surfaces. After graduating from Indiana University with degrees in chemistry and mathematics, Prof. McCrory attended Stanford University for his PhD studies and worked with Professor Christopher Chidsey to understand the kinetics and mechanisms of electrocatalytic oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation by discrete molecular complexes immobilized onto carbon surfaces. He continued working in molecular electrocatalysis during his postdoc research with Professor Jonas C. Peters at the California Institute of Technology where he studied the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction by Co- and Ni-complexes.
In 2011, Prof. McCrory joined the research staff of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub dedicated to the development of integrated solar-fuels technology. As Lead Benchmarking Scientist at JCAP, Prof. McCrory supervised a research team in the development and implementation of protocols for evaluating the activity and stability of solid-state heterogeneous (photo)electrocatalytic materials for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR). His electrocatalyst benchmarking papers have been cited cumulatively thousands of times and began new conversations on best practices to effectively measure and report electrocatalytic performance for solar fuels reactions.
Prof. McCrory joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2015. His research program uses a combination of surface science and electrochemistry to study the mechanisms and kinetics of electrocatalytic transformations of small molecules for energy storage and environmental remediation. Prof. McCrory is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Electrochemical Society (ECS), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the National Organization for the Professional Development of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).