Wentzcovitch Named AGU College of Fellows Distinguished Lecturer

Professor Renata M.M. Wentzcovitch has been selected to serve as an American Geophysical Union (AGU) College of Fellows Distinguished Lecturer for the 2026–2027 academic year, recognizing her leadership and contributions to geophysics, mineral physics, and computational materials science. As part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, she will deliver free, virtual presentations on her research to student audiences and academic institutions around the world.

Wentzcovitch is a faculty member in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia Engineering. She is also a senior staff scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Her research focuses on the development and application of advanced materials simulation methods under extreme pressure and temperature conditions, with particular emphasis on the materials that make up planetary interiors..

Throughout her career, Wentzcovitch has received numerous honors recognizing her scientific achievements and leadership. She received the 2025 Bridgman Award from the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Science and Technology (AIRAPT). She has also held leadership roles in the American Geophysical Union and the American Physical Society, including serving as President-Elect (2023–2024), President (2025–2026), and future Past-President (2027–2028) of the AGU Mineral and Rock Physics Section, and as Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect, Chair, and Past-Chair of the American Physical Society's Division of Computational Physics from 2017 to 2020.

Additional honors include the Wilhelm Heraeus Visiting Professorship Award at Goethe University Frankfurt; election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Mineralogical Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Physical Society; the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists; a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan; the Shell Land-Grant Professorship at the University of Minnesota; and appointment as an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Through the AGU College of Fellows Distinguished Lecture Series, Wentzcovitch will share her research with students and institutions worldwide, helping advance understanding of the materials and processes that shape Earth and other planetary bodies.