Dr. Esther S. Takeuchi is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and the William and Jane Knapp Chair in Energy and the Environment at Stony Brook University. She holds a joint appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory as Chief Scientist and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Science Department. Previously, she was employed at Greatbatch, Inc., where her achievements in lithium batteries led to several technological innovations. Her work was instrumental in the development of the lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery, the power source of life-saving implantable cardiac defibrillators. Dr. Takeuchi is a prolific inventor with > 150 patents.
Dr. Takeuchi is a member of National Academy of Engineering, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is a Charter Member of the National Academy of Innovation was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. She received the E. V Murphree and Astellas Awards from the American Chemical Society and the Electrochemical Society (ECS) Battery Division Technology award. She is a Fellow of the ECS, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received the European Inventor Award, the Sigma Xi Walston Chubb Innovation Award, an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Notre Dame University, the ECS Edward G. Acheson Award and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of the 2022 National Academy of Sciences Chemical Sciences Award.
Dr. Takeuchi received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in chemistry and history and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Ohio State University.