Claire White wins 2026 Robert L’Hermite Medal

By Victoria Cleave for Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Claire White, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, has won the 2026 Robert L’Hermite Medal. The prize recognizes her outstanding scientific contributions to sustainable construction and its decarbonization, acknowledging her recent advances in research on materials for carbon dioxide capture and storage.

The Robert L’Hermite Medal has been awarded annually since 1967 by the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM). The medal is presented to a researcher under 40 years of age who has made an exceptional scientific contribution to the field of construction materials and structures. White will be receiving the medal and giving a talk on her award-winning work at the 80th RILEM Annual Week, in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2026.

White leads the sustainable cements group at Princeton, which focuses on sustainable cement materials, materials for carbon dioxide capture, and carbon dioxide storage technologies. Her research uses experimental and computational methods to uncover fundamental insights on physicochemical processes that influence material properties and performance, with the goal of using these insights to improve performance and/or reduce cement-based carbon dioxide emissions.

“I’m deeply honored to be recognized with the Robert L’Hermite Medal, and grateful for RILEM’s support and community throughout my career,” said White. “I look forward to celebrating with other RILEM members in September.”

White was previously honored by RILEM in 2019 with the Gustavo Colonnetti Medal for her contributions to the development of alkali activated materials. Since then, she has been active within a number of U.S. and international research committees and was recently appointed as associate editor of RILEM Technical Letters.

White completed undergraduate studies in civil engineering and physics and her Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Melbourne, Australia. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, she moved to Princeton in 2013. She received the Princeton President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2023 and has published over 90 journal articles to date.