Sean Hearne

Sean Hearne is an American born physicist, who is the President and CEO of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) and served as the 43’rd president of the Materials Research Society. Hearne was elected to be a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2020.

Education
Hearne received his B.S. in Aviation Technology from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Arizona State University.

Career
Hearne spent 18 years as a scientist and manager at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he rose to be the co-director of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. In 2019, joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the director of first the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and then the director of the Materials Science and Technology Division (MSTD). In 2022, Hearne became the President and CEO of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA).

Hearne also sat on numerous boards and review committees including Princeton University’s External Advisory Council for the Princeton Materials Institute and Georgia Tech’s Advisory Board for SENIC, a National Science Foundation user facility.

Research
Hearne’s spans material science, electrodeposition, grid scale energy storage, micro- and nanofabrication, and III-V semiconductors, with his most highly cited work being in residual stress in thin films.

Other Interests
Hearne’s interests included amateur auto racing. He raced both Spec Miata with SCCA and vintage Formula Ford and traveled around the US racing as part of the Daniel’s Racing team, led by New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Charles W. Daniels.