20 of the world’s most influential scientists have ties to this Eastern Washington lab

KENNEWICK — Twenty of the most influential scientists in the world work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, with headquarters in Richland, or have a joint appointment there with a Northwest university.

Each year Clarivate determines the top researchers based on how often other researchers cite their work over the past decade, an indicator of their influence in the worldwide research community,

“The highly cited researchers list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who are having a significant impact on the research community as evidenced by the rate at which their work is being cited by their peers,” said David Pendlebury, head of research analysis at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

“These individuals are helping to transform human ingenuity into our world’s greatest breakthroughs,” he said.

About 1 in 1,000 researchers make the list, with the 2022 list including scientists from 69 countries and researchers.

The United States continues to have the most researchers on the list, but its percentage has declined as more researchers in China have been named to the list in recent years.

This year 11 researchers with ties to PNNL were named for their cumulative citations across multiple scientific disciplines, or cross-field citations.

The lab also did well in materials science, with four researchers in that field named to the list of highly cited scientists.

PNNL scientists recognized

• Mark Engelhard was named for his cross-field research for the fifth year in a row. He is a senior research chemist with the biogeochemical transportation team in PNNL’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Division and the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory user program.
• Zimin Nie was recognized for her cross-field research. Recently she has worked to develop quantitative tools for the analysis of complex electrolyte solutions for large scale energy storage applications.
• Amy Sims is a senior research scientist in PNNL’s National Security Directorate working to understand molecular mechanisms by which coronaviruses evade immune response. She was recognized for cross-field research.
• Wu Xu, a chief scientist in the Energy Processes and Materials Division, develops novel electrolytes for energy storage systems. He was honored for cross-field research for the fourth time. He had published 220 papers and has 32,539 citations.
• Yuyan Shao, an electrochemist and materials scientist, was recognized for cross-field citations. His research interests include battery technologies and fuel cell technologies. This is fifth time on the most cited list.
• James Stegen is an earth scientist with a joint appointment with PNNL and Washington State University recognized for cross-field research. He is an expert in ecological theory and has built multidisciplinary teams to integrate computational simulation, experimentation and observation.
• Brian O’Neill, an earth scientist and laboratory fellow, was recognized for cross-field research for the fourth year in a row. He has 10,066 citations and is based at PNNL’s joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, Md.
• Steven Smith, based at PNNL’s joint Global Change Research Institute, was honored for geosciences for the fourth year in a row.
• Katherine Calvin was recognized for cross-field research for the fifth year in a row. She is based at PNNL’s joint Global Change Research Institute.
• Page Kyle, an earth scientist with 93 papers and 68,386 citations in 19 years of research, was recognized for his cross-field research. He is based at PNNL’s joint Global Change Research Institute.
• Shannon Boettcher of the University of Oregon with a joint appointment at PNNL in materials science was recognized for cross-field research for the fourth year in a row.
• Dan Du of WSU, who is affiliated with PNNL, was recognized for her cross-field citations. She works on nanomaterials-based biosensors and immunosensors and their application in biomedical and environmental research.
• Janet Jansson was recognized in the field of microbiology for a fifth year. She has published 212 paper and has had 32.415 citations in 40 years of research. She is chief scientist for biology in the PNNL biological Sciences Division and is a laboratory fellow. Her expertise is in the use of molecular approaches to study complex microbial communities, such as those in soil, sediments and the human gut.
• Yuehe Lin, a WSU professor, is also a PNNL laboratory fellow and chief scientist. He was recognized for his chemistry citations for a 10th year. He works in the nanotechnology area, focusing on biomedical diagnosis and drug delivery innovations.
• Nate McDowell, an earth scientist, was recognized for his plant and animal science research. His research includes a study of forest dynamics due to wildfires, drought and wind. “Over the last hundred years, we’ve lost a lot of old forests,” McDowell said. “And they’ve been replaced in part by non-forests and in part by young forests. This has consequences for biodiversity, climate mitigation and forestry.”
• Chongmin Wang, a PNNL laboratory fellow and materials scientist, was recognized for materials science for a fifth year. He leads a team researching materials for energy science and applications. His research focuses on the ability of sophisticated scientific instruments to probe the microstructure and chemistry of materials at the atomic scale.
• Jie Xiao was recognized for materials science citations. She is a lab fellow and has a joint appointment with the University of Washington. She identifies new materials and novel technologies for energy storage and conversion.
• Jun Liu was recognized with both engineering and materials science citations. A laboratory fellow, his research interest includes the development and characterization of new materials for energy applications
• Jason Zhang was recognized with both engineering and materials science citations, making it on the list 10 times, for his research in energy storage. In 30 years of research he has published 303 papers and has 48,334 citations.
• Phil Rasch, recently retired from PNNL where he worked as a laboratory fellow and earth scientist, was named as a highly cited geosciences researcher for the seventh time. He is internationally known for his work in general air circulation, atmospheric chemistry and climate modeling.