Location
Wilsdorf Hall, Room 328 P. O. Box 400745
Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering Kelly Research Group Tour CESE Google Scholar ResearchGate

About

Robert G. Kelly has been conducting research on the corrosion of metals for the past 30 years. After completing his Ph.D. studies at Johns Hopkins University (1989), he spent two years at the Corrosion and Protection Centre at the University of Manchester (UK) as a Fulbright Scholar and as an NSF/NATO Post-doctoral Fellow. He joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1990. His past work has included work on the corrosion of metals and alloys in marine environments, non-aqueous and mixed solvents as well as stress-corrosion cracking and other forms of localized corrosion. His present work includes studies of the electrochemical and chemical conditions inside localized corrosion sites in various alloy systems, corrosion in aging aircraft, development of embeddable corrosion microinstruments, microfabrication methods to probe the fundamentals of localized corrosion, and multi-scale modeling of corrosion processes. He has co-authored over one hundred papers, presented fifty invited talks and is the Co-Director of the Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering at UVA. He was selected as the recipient of the 1997 A. B. Campbell Award for the best paper by an author 35 years old or younger and the 1999 H. H. Uhlig Award for young corrosion educators from the National Association of Corrosion Engineers, and the H.H. Uhlig Award from the Electrochemical Society. He is also a Fellow of NACE International. He has won several teaching awards while at UVA, including an All University Teaching Award in 2004. He was the 2001 recipient of the Robert T. Foley Award from the National Capital Section of the Electrochemical Society. He has rendered technical assistance to the NRC and DOE concerning the Yucca Mountain Project, the USAF Aging Aircraft Program, the NASA Safety and Engineering Center, and the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial design team. He has supervised 20 Ph.D. students to completion as well as 18 M.S. students.

Education

B.E.S. Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1984

M.S. Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1986

Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1989

Post-Doc ​University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 1988-90

Research Interests

Corrosion and Electrochemical Sciences and Engineering
Surface and Interface Science and Engineering
Metallurgy
Materials Characterization
Computational Materials Science
Structures and Mechanics (Sustainable Infrastructure Systems)
Advanced materials for transportation applications

Selected Publications

“Evaluation of the Maximum Pit Size Model on Stainless Steel under Atmospheric Conditions,” J Electrochem. Soc., 161 (8) E1-E9 (2014). M. T. WOLDEMEDHIN, M. E. SHEDD, R. G. KELLY
ABS
"Effect of relative humidity on corrosion of steel under sea salt aerosol proxies II: MgCl2, Seawater," J. Electrochem Soc., 161 (10) C460-C470 (2014). E. SCHINDELHOLZ, B.E. RISTEEN, R. G. KELLY
ABS
“Marine Aerosol Drop Size Effects on the Corrosion Behavior of Low Carbon Steel and High Purity Iron,” J. Electrochem. Soc., 161 (14) C580-C586 (2014) B. E. RISTEEN, E. SCHINDELHOLZ, R. G. KELLY
ABS
"The Use of a Sintered Ag/AgCl Electrode as Both Reference and Counter Electrode for Electrochemical Measurements in Thin Film Electrolytes", ECS Electrochemistry Letters, 4 (10) C1-C3 (2015). P. KHULLAR, J. V. BADILLA, R. G. KELLY
ABS

Courses Taught

MSE/EVSC 2010 Materials That Shape Our Civilization SPRING 2016, SPRING 2017

Awards

Featured Grants & Projects