Dhananjay Kumar presented new findings on conductive ruthenium oxide films at the DOE EFRC Principal Investigators meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. His talk and poster emphasized the importance of orientation-controlled thin films in probing oxygen evolution mechanisms.

As the PI responsible for organizing the 2025 PREM Principal Investigators Meeting, Dhananjay Kumar coordinated a full day of programming that brought together PREM teams and NSF staff to share strategies for research, student engagement, and center development. Representing the CREAM PREM at NC A&T, he opened the event with remarks that helped set the stage for panels on SEED-to-PREM transitions, mentoring, and collaborative program growth.

The protection of the planet through the development of clean energy will be explored more deeply at North Carolina A&T State University. The university’s College of Engineering has received a federal grant of $10.35 million to research how to separate hydrogen and oxygen from water to create clean energy, a release from NC A&T announced.

The grant – at least the third major investment for energy and technology received this year by A&T – is part of $420 million the Department of Energy awarded for its Energy Frontier Research Centers, which are created to study future energy development and move toward the goal of having a zero-emission economy by 2050.

Dhananjay Kumar, Director of CEDARS and PI of the CREAM center, was among the team members honored with the 2025 Interdisciplinary Team of the Year Award at North Carolina A&T

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has received $4.2 million for six years from the Division of Materials Research (DMR) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund an interdisciplinary program aimed to enhance diversity in materials research. The Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) program at N.C. A&T will be led by Dhananjay Kumar, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering (COE).

In the 2023 Spring Meeting of the Materials Research Society (MRS) held in San Francisco, California, a team led by Dr. Dhananjay Kumar visited the labs of Dr. Ethan Crumlin and Dr. Junko Yano. The team included Sheilah Cherono and Moses Ashie, who were both students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University.

After nearly two decades at N.C. A&T, Dhananjay has made important developments in the field of mechanical engineering. The native of India has also become a kind of cultural ambassador of sorts, bonding with his students by sharing his culture.