2025 Early Career Alumni Award: Derrick Maxwell

Derrick Maxwell BS '14 is a recipient of the 2025 College of Natural Sciences (CNS) Early Career Alumni Award.  

Maxwell began his academic journey at CNS, graduating in 2014 with a BS in Chemistry. He served as a post-baccalaureate fellow at the college as part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project, for which he conducted single-molecule spectroscopy studies of novel photovoltaic materials.  

"My career feels like it has followed a path less traveled by, and like Frost may have alluded, I am grateful," expresses Maxwell. "The undergraduate experience and education I received at UMass first showed me how to spot unconventional opportunities and run down those roads without wondering where the others may have led."   

In 2017, Maxwell completed a graduate certificate in Engineering Leadership as a Gordon Institute Fellow at Northeastern University, with his MS thesis focusing on polymer binders in lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering, also at Northeastern, in 2024. While earning his doctorate, Maxwell worked at the Northeastern University Center for Renewable Energy Technology under Dr. Sanjeev Mukerjee. His PhD dissertation explored batteries, electrolyzers, and fuel cells as cornerstones of a circular, green-energy economy.   

Following his graduation from CNS in 2014, Maxwell began working as a chemical engineer at Nanoramic Laboratories, working on projects funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the DOE, with the aim of designing ultracapacitors for extreme environments, such as deep space and geothermal applications. He was the primary author of two NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I final reports, contributing to technologies capable of operating at high temperatures and for applications in space exploration.  

From 2016 to 2021, Maxwell worked at A123 Systems, advancing from a research process engineer associate to a lead engineer, and leading the development of advanced lithium-ion battery technologies. He directed projects on cathode pre-lithiation, overseeing both fundamental research and pilot-scale technology transfer. Maxwell also contributed to several patents during this period and completed his MS thesis, which was a collaborative effort with A123 Systems.  

In 2022, Maxwell started Propriety Inc., doing business as Amel Energy, where he serves as CEO, president, and founder. Based in the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) Collaboratories at UMass Amherst, the company develops safer and greener materials for the energy storage industry, focusing on solvent-based processing, polymer innovation, and greenhouse gas reduction.   

Under his leadership, Amel Energy has secured competitive funding, including: a $150,000 grant from the Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine, which is backed by the U.S. National Science Foundation and Binghamton University, and is led by Nobel laureate and lithium-ion battery inventor, Sir M. Stanley Whittingham (partners of the grant include Dr. Todd Emrick of CNS's Department of Polymer Science and Engineering); a $75,000 award from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center; and a position in the ChargeUp battery business accelerator, which includes a $25,000 stipend. Through his work at Amel Energy, Maxwell has multiple pending patents for non-toxic solvent and PFAS-free binder systems designed to replace hazardous industry standards in lithium-ion battery production.  

Michael A. Fox, PhD, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, emphasizes Maxwell's role in connecting UMass with the growing field of energy storage: "Having earned his BS in Chemistry from UMass Amherst in 2014, Dr. Maxwell has quickly established himself as a leader in the field of carbon-neutral energy storage. As the Founder and CEO of Amel Energy, Dr. Maxwell has re-engaged with our campus community to form partnerships with our faculty experts in a collaboratory space within the Institute for Applied Life Science." 

For Maxwell, this distinction strengthens his connection to CNS: "Being selected for this award is a true honor and reaffirms the feeling that incubating my business on campus was like coming back home."