Laura H. Lewis

Distinguished University and Cabot Professor,  Chemical Engineering
Distinguished University and Cabot Professor,  Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Contact

Office

  • 447 Snell Engineering Center
  • 617.373.3419

Lab

  • 476 SN & 478 SN
  • 617.373.7916

Research Focus

Structure-property relationships in magnetofunctional materials for energy transformations including advanced permanent magnet materials and magnetocaloric materials; strategic materials and supply chains for technological application

About

Joined the Chemical Engineering Department in Spring 2007.

Laura H. Lewis is the Distinguished University and Cabot Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University. She was previously a research group leader and Associate Department Chair in the Nanoscience Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). fabricate and study nanoscale materials. Laura’s research focuses on investigating the materials factors at the atomic level that provide functionality to magnetic and electronic materials. Emphasis is on strategic and technologically relevant systems that impact sustainability and critical materials supply chains including nanomaterials, amorphous materials and magnets. Potential applications include energy transformations in thermal, electromechanical and biomedical systems including motors, generators, magnetocaloric cooling and biosensors. Laura serves on a number of advisory panels, including for the Critical Materials Institute (a DOE Energy Innovation Hub) and is a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to develop supply chain and sustainability standards to ISO TC298 (Rare Earths) and ISO TC333 (Lithium), American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Education

  • B.A. (Physics with Specialization in Earth Sciences) University of California, San Diego, 1985
  • M.S. (Electronic Materials) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988
  • Ph.D. (Materials Science and Engineering) University of Texas at Austin, 1993

Honors & Awards

  • Fulbright Scholar (2018, 2019)
  • Fellow, American Physical Society
  • Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • Northeastern University Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award
  • Chair, Technical Committee of the IEEE Magnetics Society (2017-2019)
  • Conference Editor, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (2008-2018)
  • NATO Technical Team Member of AVT-231 on “Scarcity of Rare Earth Materials for Electrical Power Systems”
  • US Technical Advisory Group to ISO TC298, Rare Earth
  • International Advisory Committee of the Joint European Magnetics Symposia (JEMS)

Research Overview

Structure-property relationships in magnetofunctional materials for energy transformations including advanced permanent magnet materials and magnetocaloric materials; strategic materials and supply chains for technological application

Nanomagnetism Laboratory

Our group of research scientists, graduate students, and undergraduate students work on a variety of research topics that aim to gain fundamental understandings of process-structure-magnetism correlation in technologically relevant magnetic and electronic materials.

Nanomagnetism Laboratory

Selected Research Projects

Selected Publications

  • Lejeune, B. T., R. Barua, E. Simsek, R. W. McCallum, R. T. Ott, M. J. Kramer, and L. H. Lewis. (2021). Towards Additive Manufacturing of Magnetocaloric Working Materials. Materialia, 16, 101071
  • Adib, Aswad, Khurram K. Afridi, Mahshid Amirabadi, Fariba Fateh, Mehdi Ferdowsi, Brad Lehman, Laura H. Lewis et al. (2019). E-mobility—Advancements and challenges. IEEE Access, 7, 165226-165240
  • Jamer, Michelle E., Yung Jui Wang, Gregory M. Stephen, Ian J. McDonald, Alexander J. Grutter, George E. Sterbinsky, Dario A. Arena et al. (2017). Compensated Ferrimagnetism in the Zero-Moment Heusler Alloy Mn 3 Al. Physical Review Applied, 7(6), 064036
  • Lewis, Laura H., A. Mubarok, E. Poirier, Nina Bordeaux, P. Manchanda, A. Kashyap, Ralph Skomski et al. (2014). Inspired by Nature: Investigating Tetrataenite for Permanent Magnet Applications. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 26(6), 064213
  • Plouffe, Brian D., Shashi K. Murthy, and Laura H. Lewis. (2014). Fundamentals and Application of Magnetic Particles in Cell Isolation and Enrichment: A Review. Reports on Progress in Physics, 78(1), 016601
  • Lewis, Laura H., and Félix Jiménez-Villacorta. (2013). Perspectives on Permanent Magnetic Materials for Energy Conversion and Power Generation. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions, A44, 1, 2-20

Faculty

Dec 07, 2023

2023 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes those […]

Spotlight Story

Oct 12, 2023

PhD Spotlight: Xiaoyu “Criss” Zhang, PhD’23, Mechanical Engineering

Xiaoyu “Criss” Zhang, PhD’23, mechanical engineering, focused research to understand and tailor magnetofunctional materials. He applied novel materials processing approaches to alter local atomic environments and structures at scales from Ångstrom-level to microscale to tailor magnetofunctionality. Zhang contributed to 14 peer-reviewed journal publications, including nine published contributions, with three as first-author, and five manuscripts in preparation. He continued as a postdoctoral researcher.

Faculty

Aug 07, 2023

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU Pathways) completes 10 week Boston program

MIE Professor Ibrahim Zeid and STEM Executive Director Claire Duggan led a 10-week NSF-funded REU program called “REU Pathways,” which mentors community college students in engineering research.

Laura Lewis

Faculty

Nov 28, 2022

Lewis Elevated to IEEE Fellow

Distinguished University and Cabot Professor Laura Lewis, ChE/MIE, was elevated to an IEEE Fellow for contributions to the design of magneto-functional materials.

Faculty

Nov 02, 2022

2022 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]

Faculty

Oct 07, 2022

Accelerating the Production of Tetratenite as Alternative to Rare-Earth Magnets

Distinguished University and Cabot Professor Laura Lewis, ChE/MIE, has developed a method to create tetratenite as an alternative to rare-earth magnets, which she was recently awarded a patent for.

Laura Lewis

Faculty

Sep 07, 2021

ChE/MIE’s Lewis Awarded $2.1 M for Novel Magnetic Materials

Distinguished University and Cabot Professor Laura Lewis, ChE/MIE, is leading a $2.1M Department of Energy grant, in collaboration with the University of Delaware, the Northeastern University Physics department, and the University of Warwick, UK, for “Designing Strong Stability in Non-Critical and Rare-Earth-Lean Magnetic Materials.”

Laura Lewis

Faculty

Aug 05, 2021

Manufacturing Efficient Magnetic Materials

Distinguished University and Cabot Professor Laura Lewis, ChE/MIE, in collaboration with the University of Warwick, UK, was awarded a $900K NSF grant for “Multi-Driver Furnace Processing of Magneto-Functional Materials.”

Faculty

Apr 20, 2021

FY22 TIER 1 Award Recipients

Congratulations to the 17 COE faculty and affiliates who were recipients of FY22 TIER 1 Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grants for 11 different projects.

Laura Lewis

Faculty

Sep 01, 2020

Creating, Probing and Confirming Tetragonality in Bulk FeNi Alloys

Distinguished University and Cabot Professor Laura Lewis, ChE/MIE, was published in Acta Materialia for research on “Creating, probing and confirming tetragonality in bulk FeNi alloys”.

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