James LeBeau

James LeBeau is a materials scientist and electron microscopy expert who left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to join McMaster University's Faculty of Engineering in Hamilton, Canada, as an Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair of Canada in Quantitative and AI-Enabled Electron Microscopy for Quantum and Advanced Materials.

LeBeau earned his BS in materials science and engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2006 and his PhD in materials from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2010. He joined North Carolina State University's faculty in 2011, then MIT in 2019 as associate professor, earning tenure in 2022 and full professorship in 2025.

LeBeau develops scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques to determine the atomic structure and chemistry of materials, work that has informed research into relaxor ferroelectrics, quantum devices, and next-generation batteries and semiconductors. At McMaster, he will lead research on materials for future batteries, semiconductors, and quantum devices, using the university's electron microscopy facilities to strengthen Canada's position in quantum and advanced materials research.