Vanesa Muñoz Perales is a School of Engineering Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in materials science and engineering whose research is focused on the accelerated discovery of new soft energy materials for electrochemical energy storage and the development of competitive next-generation batteries to support the energy transition at low economic, environmental, and ethical cost. In her doctoral research, Vanesa investigated mass transport phenomena in porous electrodes and alternative cell architectures to increase the efficiency of flow batteries for large-scale energy storage. As a postdoctoral fellow, she will explore the potential of engineering new electrolyte and electrode materials from the bottom up to improve ionic and electronic transport and subsequent performance in batteries. She will pursue a new approach by bridging polymer science, fundamental electrochemistry, and automated high-throughput platforms. Her goal is to establish a new line of research in nanostructured soft energy materials for high-power and low-cost beyond-lithium batteries to address the global need for decarbonizing the energy system. Vanesa’s research has strong potential to deliver new energy storage materials and transformative technologies to address the global need for clean, affordable energy.