Rate My Professor Ronald Grimm

Ronald Grimm is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Physics. He joined the faculty in 2014 after serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Harvey Mudd College. His academic journey includes postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology with Nathan S. Lewis, focusing on the passivation and surface chemistry of silicon for photoelectrochemical stability and solar fuels production, and at the University of California, Irvine with John C. Hemminger, characterizing interactions between adsorbed water and oxidized organic surfaces relevant to aged organic aerosol. Grimm earned his PhD in 2005 from Caltech in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering under Jack L. Beauchamp, investigating properties and applications of electrospray ionization and Field-Induced Droplet Ionization Mass Spectrometry. He received his undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Chemistry, where he studied radiative recombination rates of gas phase transition metal cations with aromatic compounds.

The research of the Grimm group centers on quantifying and controlling the bulk and surface properties of solar energy conversion materials to understand what makes materials efficient at converting sunlight to electrical or chemical energy. Current projects encompass photoelectrochemistry, nontraditional light absorbers, interfaces between dissimilar materials, supramolecular assemblies in metal-organic frameworks, and properties of two-dimensional nanomaterials such as MXenes. Key publications include "Synergy between Defects, Photoexcited Electrons, and Supported Single Atom Catalysts for CO₂ Reduction" (ACS Catalysis, 2018), "Electronic Structure of 1D Lepidocrocite TiO₂ as Revealed by Optical Absorption and Photoelectron Spectroscopy" (The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2023), "Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene: silk fibroin composite films—engineering DC conductivity and properties in the THz range" (Graphene and 2D Materials, 2025), and "Highly Stable and Efficient All-inorganic Lead-free Perovskite Solar Cells with Native-oxide Passivation" (Nature Communications, 2019). In 2022, Grimm was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor. He received a President's Research Catalyst Grant in 2024 for collaborative research. Additionally, he heads the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department's graduate admissions process.