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James Morris became Ames National Laboratory’s Chief Research Officer in June 2019. As Chief Research Officer (CRO), Morris is responsible for initiating, developing and supervising Ames National Laboratory’s scientific divisions, institutes and programs. The CRO formulates and evaluates new initiatives in support of Ames National Laboratory’s mission – to create materials, inspire minds to solve problems, and address global challenges – often emphasizing cross-disciplinary collaborations with other DOE National Laboratories, academia, and industry.

Morris’ research has focused on a variety of materials science challenges, including alloy design, high entropy alloys, metallic liquids and glasses, and hydrogen storage and other confined fluids in porous media. He earned his B.S. in physics at Colorado State University in 1987, and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University in 1992. He worked at Ames National Laboratory first as a postdoctoral associate then as a scientific staff member. In 2003, he joined the Alloy Behavior and Design group at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), and in 2005 also became joint faculty with the University of Tennessee’s Materials Science and Engineering department. At ORNL, Morris served as Deputy Director for the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center for Defect Physics, as Lab Coordinator for the Basic Energy Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering program, and as Materials Theory Group Leader.