Prof. Erin L. Ratcliff is a Full Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  She earned a B.A. in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Statistics in 2003 from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Iowa State University in 2007. After completing a postdoc at the University of Arizona (2007 – 2009), she served as a Research Scientist and Research Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (2009 – 2014). She was previously an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona (2014 – 2024).  She joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2024.

Her group “Laboratory for Interface Science for Printable Electronic Materials” works on fundamentals and devices, with applications including solar cells, transistors, photoelectrodes, transistors, capacitors, and batteries. The group is experimental and uses a combination of electrochemistry, spectroscopies, microscopies, and synchrotron-based techniques to understand fundamental structure-property relationships of next-generation materials for energy conversion and storage and biosensing. Materials of interest include metal halide perovskites, π-conjugated materials, colloidal quantum dots, and metal oxides. Current research is focused on mechanisms of electron transfer and transport across interfaces, including semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces and durability of printable electronic materials.  Such an interdisciplinary group welcomes students and postdocs with training in materials science, chemical engineering, chemistry, and physics, among others.

Prof. Ratliff was also the Director of the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) entitled “Center for Soft PhotoElectroChemical Systems (SPECS)” and is currently the Associate Director of Scientific Continuity for SPECS. She has received several awards for her research and teaching, including the 2023 Da Vinci Fellow and the 2022 College of Engineering Researcher of the Year award at UArizona, The Ten at Ten People of Energy Frontier Research Centers DOE Basic Energy Sciences award in 2019, and Senior Summer Faculty Research Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory (2020, 2021, and 2024). Her research program has been funded by the Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences, the Solar Energy Technology Office, Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation, and the Nano Bio Materials Consortium.

Teaching Interests

Professor Ratcliff’s teaching interests center on core materials science and engineering topics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She emphasizes fundamental principles underlying materials characterization, electronic materials, and spectroscopy techniques. Her instruction integrates experimental methods with theoretical concepts to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of material properties and behaviors. She actively involves students in research-driven learning to foster critical thinking and practical skills in materials analysis. Specialties are in transport phenomena, electroanalytical methods, and spectroscopy and microscopy methods.