Mallouk Named Vagelos Professor in Energy Research

Thomas Mallouk, Vagelos Professor in Energy Research

Thomas Mallouk has been named Vagelos Professor in Energy Research. Mallouk comes to Penn from Penn State University, where he was the Evan Pugh University Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Physics, and Engineering Science and Mechanics. He is a materials chemist who uses nanoscale assembly techniques to make complex materials for specific functions in solar and electrochemical energy conversion.  

Mallouk has been recognized with many prestigious fellowships and awards for his groundbreaking work leading to fundamental advances in our understanding of materials chemistry and nanoscience, including several Penn State teaching awards and membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  

The Vagelos Professorship in Energy Research was one of two established by P. Roy Vagelos, C’50, PAR’90, HON’99, and Diana T. Vagelos, PAR’90.

P. Roy Vagelos, a chemistry major who graduated from Penn in 1950 before going on to receive a medical degree from Columbia University, is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merck & Co. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Vagelos served as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees from 1995 to 1999, and he is a former member of the Penn Arts & Sciences’ Board of Overseers and the founding Chair of the Committee for Undergraduate Financial Aid. Diana T. Vagelos is a former Overseer of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The Vageloses’ longtime support of Penn Arts & Sciences includes the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology, the Vagelos Professorships in Energy Research, the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER), and several other science-related programs, undergraduate scholarships, and endowed professorships. Their most recent gift—the largest in the School’s history—will create a new energy science and technology building to house researchers focused on energy science.

 

Arts & Sciences News

1 / 2
Fourteen from Penn Arts & Sciences Receive Fulbrights for 2025-26 Academic Year

They will conduct research, pursue graduate degrees, or teach English in places including Thailand, Austria, Indonesia, Moldova, and many other places.

View Article >
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw Named James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor of History of Art

Shaw’s main areas of research include portraiture and issues of representation in the art of the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, from the 1500s to the present day.

View Article >
Hanming Fang Named Inaugural Norman C. Grosman Professor of Economics

An applied microeconomist who integrates rigorous modeling with data analysis, Fang’s research within the field of public economics focuses on health insurance and healthcare markets.

View Article >
Xi Song Named Inaugural Schiffman Family Presidential Associate Professor of Sociology

Song’s research interests include social mobility, occupations, Asian Americans, population studies, and quantitative methodology.

View Article >
Julie Nelson Davis Named Paul F. Miller, Jr. and E. Warren Shafer Miller Professor of History of Art

Davis specializes in the arts and material cultures of 18th- and 19th-century Japan, with a focus on prints, paintings, and illustrated books.

View Article >
Justin Khoury Named Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Khoury’s research interests lie at the intersection of particle physics and cosmology.

View Article >