Tim Koeth Named Exemplary Honoree at Maryland Research Excellence Celebration

The University of Maryland (UMD) Division of Research recognized Timothy Koeth, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Maryland Research Excellence Celebration hosted on Thursday, March 12, 2026.

"After two decades of inquiry, it has been my special privilege to gain new insight into the ephemeral and enigmatic dynamics of charge motion in insulating materials,” said Koeth. “This recognition should also belong to the talented members of my research group, without their curiosity and dedication the collective understanding of insulation failure would be greatly diminished."

Koeth was selected as the Exemplary Honoree of the A. James Clark School of Engineering by Dean Samuel Graham, for his work towards understanding Lichtenberg figure formation—which are glowing, lightning-like patterns named after its discoverer in the late 1770s—in the polymer Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

More specifically, he is being recognized for his groundbreaking research in dielectric breakdown phenomena, culminating in a landmark publication in Science in 2024. His team discovered a previously unknown ultra-fast breakdown, named “Ivy,” which is reported to travel over 12 million meters per second. This work represents a significant advance in understanding materials behavior under extreme electrical stress, and could present pathways to further study the failure mechanism that can leave modern satellites inoperable.

Throughout a research endeavor that began after a coincidental artistic encounter with lichtenberg figures in 2005, Koeth, who began studying the phenomenon in 2010 as a postdoctoral researcher at UMD, devoted more than a decade to answering questions involving imaging methods, formation speed, discharge propagation and surface arc tracking, amongst others.

Additionally to addressing a fundamental science gap, his work has attracted millions of dollars in external research funding to his laboratory and led to a Department of Defense Young Faculty Award (2022) and Director’s Fellowship Award (2024), also carrying important implications for aerospace systems and satellite reliability, which are important for national security.

Published March 12, 2026