Paul R. Ohodnicki Jr. is currently an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science department at the University of Pittsburgh and the associate coordinator of the Engineering Science program. Prior to his current role, he was a materials scientist and technical portfolio lead in the Functional Materials Team of the Materials Engineering & Manufacturing Directorate of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 with a B.Phil. in engineering physics and a B.A. in economics and subsequently earned his M.S. (2006) and Ph.D. (2008) in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He spent two years as a visiting research scientist at PPG Industries from 2008 to 2010 prior to joining the National Energy Technology Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. During his time with the laboratory, he was responsible for overseeing projects spanning sensing and power electronics, with emphasis on advanced devices and enabling functional materials for photonic and wireless sensing as well as power magnetics component and materials design.

Ohodnicki has published more than 130 technical publications and holds more than 10 patents, with more than 15 additional patents under review. He also is the recipient of a number of awards and recognitions, including the Federal Employee Rookie of the Year Award (2012), Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (2016), and the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Innovation Category Award for the Carnegie Science Center (2012, 2017, 2019). In 2017, he was a nominee for the Samuel J. Heyman service to America Medal.

Ohodnicki's involvement with TMS began as the recipient of the Young Leaders Professional Development Award for the Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials (now Functional Materials) Division in 2010. Since then, he has organized more than 15 symposia for the TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition and has served as the vice chair and chair of the Energy Conversion and Storage and the Magnetic Materials Committees as well as on numerous functional committees, including the Membership and Student Development and Young Professionals Committees. He is currently the chair of the TMS Functional Materials Division and an active member of the Board of Directors.