Steven C. Freilich recently retired from DuPont after a 33 year career spanning both research and business leadership. For the past 12 years, he served as the Director of Materials Science in DuPont Central Research and Development. In that role, Dr. Freilich was responsible for developing and carrying out the corporate technology strategy in the rapidly moving technology areas of solar energy, energy storage, materials for displays and electronic materials. Throughout his career he focused his scientific efforts on the interaction of energy with materials such as polymers and inorganic particles.

After receiving a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University, Dr. Freilich joined DuPont in 1983 and led research organizations in the fields of thin film physics, materials for information storage, organic photochemistry, scientific computing and particle science. He also held various business roles, including Global Business Manager for DuPont Titanium Technologies. He used his business and scientific experience to study the interaction of technology and business processes in aiding corporate innovation.

While serving as Director of Materials Science, Dr. Freilich held the additional positions of Chief Technology Officer of the DuPont Electronics and Communication Platform from 2008 to 2009, and from 2009 through 2012, was appointed as the Chief Technology Advocate for North Asia. He has served on the boards of the United States Display Consortium, DuPont Photonics Technologies, and was the Vice Chair of the Advisory Panel for the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion. Additionally, he served on the advisory boards for Sandia National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He currently is on the Advisory Committee for the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and is a member of the External Advisory Board for the National Research Council of Canada.