Dr. Valentino R. Cooper is a Distinguished R. & D. Staff Member and Section Head for Materials Theory, Modeling and Simulation in the Materials Sciences and Technology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is the Director of the Department of Energy funded Energy Frontier Research Center on Fast and Cooperative Ion Transport in Polymer Electrolytes (FaCT). He received his Ph. D from the Chemistry Department at the University of Pennsylvania in 2005. Prior to joining ORNL in 2008, he was a post-doctoral associate in the Physics Department of Rutgers University. From 2017 to 2020 he was an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Physics. His research focuses on electronic structure methods for understanding dispersion interactions and in the prediction of functional materials including piezoelectrics and ferroelectrics. Dr. Cooper is a 2013 recipient of the Department of Energy Early Career award.
