Robert C. Armstrong, the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering, emeritus, is the former director of the MIT Energy Initiative, an Institute-wide effort at MIT linking science, technology, and policy to transform the world’s energy systems. A member of the MIT faculty since 1973, Armstrong served as head of the Department of Chemical Engineering from 1996 to 2007. From 2013 to 2023 he was director of MITEI, after serving as the organization’s initial deputy director from its inception in 2007. His research focuses on pathways to a low-carbon energy future.
Armstrong has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020) and the National Academy of Engineering (2008). He received the 2006 Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology, which is devoted to the study of the science of deformation and flow of matter, as well as the Founders Award (2020), Warren K. Lewis Award (2006), and the Professional Progress Award (1992) from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Armstrong chaired MIT’s studies on The Role of Fusion Energy in a Decarbonized Electricity System (2024) and The Future of Energy Storage (2022) and was a member of MIT’s Future of Solar Energy (2015) and Future of Natural Gas (2011) study groups. He advised the teams that developed MITEI’s reports, Insights into Future Mobility (2019) and The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World (2018). He co-edited Game Changers: Energy on the Move (2014) with former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz.
