Brown Associate Professor Feng Lin will be presented the 2026 Outstanding Alumni Award at the Colorado School of Mines on December 2. Recipients are chosen based on leadership, generosity, and service that reflect Mines’ values and significantly enhance the experience of students, alumni, and the broader community. These individuals use their professional and personal talents to foster connection, mentorship, and opportunity, and their impact is recognized by peers, industry organizations or the public.
Lin earned his Ph.D. in materials science from Colorado School of Mines in 2012. He joined Brown’s School of Engineering in July 2025 after nine years of teaching and research in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech. His research interests include rechargeable batteries, low-temperature materials manufacturing, and interface characterization and optimization. His research group has been funded by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the United States Department of Agriculture, and private companies.
Prior to joining Virginia Tech in 2016, Lin worked at QuantumScape Corporation as a senior member of the technical staff, and at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. His selected awards and recognitions include a Rising Star in Technology Award, Startup Builder University Award, 2021 NSF CAREER award, Electrochemical Society Battery Division Early Career Award, an Energy Storage Materials Young Scientist Award, and, most recently, a 2026 Nano Energy Award for Energy Storage.