Mircea Dincă (born 1980) is a

Romanian-American Romanian Americans () are Americans who have Romanian ancestry. According to the 2023 American Community Survey, 425,738 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry, however other sources provide higher estimates, which a ...

inorganic chemist. He is the Andrew Stewart 1886 Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. At Princeton, Dincă leads a research group that focuses on the synthesis of functional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which possess conductive, catalytic, and other material-favorable properties.

Early life and education

Mircea Dincă was born in

Făgăraș Făgăraș (; , ) is a municipiu, city in central Romania, located in Brașov County. It lies on the Olt (river), Olt River and has a population of 26,284 as of 2021. It is situated in the historical region of Transylvania, and is the main city of ...

, Romania. His passion for chemistry began in his chemistry class in 7th grade, where he had a "dedicated teacher that did spectacular demonstrations with relatively limited regard for safety". In 1998, he represented Romania at the International Science Olympiad (Chemistry) in

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

, Russia, where he won first prize. Selective dimerization

After high school, Dincă was offered a scholarship from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and moved to New Jersey in 1999. At Princeton, he worked with Jeffrey Schwartz, conducting research on

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

. After graduating ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 2003, Dincă went on to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

to attend the Chemistry doctorate program, where he worked with chemistry professor Jeffrey R. Long on increasing H₂

adsorption Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which a ...

in metal-organic frameworks with mobile hydrogen storage applications. He graduated with his Ph.D. from Berkeley in 2008.

Career

Dincă completed his postdoc studies at MIT, where he was promoted to associate professor in 2010 and, in 2017, tenured. Until 2024, he was the W. M. Keck Professor of Chemistry. In 2025, he joined the faculty at Princeton University.

Research

Dincă's research primarily focuses on electrical conductivity of MOF's, which was previously unknown and resulted in a new categorization of such materials with "charge mobility values". His focus is on the exploration of increasing electrical conductivity capacities through the marriage of organic and inorganic materials to assemble hybrid MOF's. Research includes exploring electrochemical cycling through strongly adhering, electroactive metal–organic framework thin films to vary results, such as multicolored electrochromic responses and transparent to dark behavior.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinca, Mircea 1980 births Living people People from Făgăraș Romanian chemists 21st-century Romanian scientists 21st-century American chemists Princeton University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Sloan Research Fellows Romanian expatriates in the United States Expatriate academics in the United States Solid state chemists