Nanolab in a Box

Mike Zach demonstrating his novel

Mike Zach demonstrating his novel NanoFab Lab… in a Box! during the ECS Meeting!

“What I do is simply help develop confidence in students.”

That’s Mike Zach’s mission with his exceptionally novel NanoFab Lab… in a Box!

Looking to inspire young people and help propel them in scientific careers, Zach took it upon himself to develop an affordable, self-automated, easy to use nanolab.

What Zach is doing is allowing students to understand complex science and have a hands-on experience in making patterned nanowires. Typically nanowires need a multimillion dollar lab to be produced, but Zach has streamlined this process in order to give high school-aged students all over the country a chance to immerse themselves in this seemingly limitless science.

“I’m just looking to get more students involved in electrochemistry… in the science,” said Zach.

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Beyond the Lab

David Wipf talks about the ECS Podcast during the Bard and Moore Award Winners Dinner at the 227th ECS Meeting.

David Wipf talks about the ECS Podcast during the Bard and Moore Award Winners Dinner at the 227th ECS Meeting Meeting.

From undergrads to PhD students, ECS’s David Wipf covers the educational spectrum at Mississippi State University. His goal? Wipf wants to get more students interested in science by showing them the human side of scientists and what happens beyond the lab.

Wipf recently heard Johna Leddy’s ECS podcast immediately saw the value in it for his students.

“It’s great that students get to hear how these scientists started,” said Wipf. “They weren’t super geniuses—they just liked science.”

As a professor in analytical chemistry, Wipf is always striving to get his students excited about science. While guests on the ECS podcast—such as Subhash Singhal and John Turner—happen to be very prominent scientists, Wipif appreciates the fact listeners get to see the unique stories of the guests’ roots and early scientific career.

“The podcasts show that everybody could do it if they wanted to,” said Wipf.

Posted in Education

7 New Job Postings in Electrochemistry

Job GraphicECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board.

P.S. Employers can post open positions for free!

Senior Manager, External Technology
Energizer – Westlake, Ohio
Candidate is required to establish agreements and negotiate contracts with technology leaders including companies (public, private and start-up) and universities and national laboratories. Contracts will be vetted internally with line management and legal prior to executing.

Electrochemistry Senior Engineer
Johnson Controls – Milwaukee, WI
The electrochemists uses his/her knowledge and understanding of the chemical and/or electrochemical processes that occur during the conversion of materials in the active masses of a battery, and how these phenomena affect battery performance under different applications, to recommend design or component changes to target performance specifications.

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A Consortium led by the Chemical and Allied Industries:
Creating Innovation Alliances for Business Growth

Submission deadline for presentations is June 5, 2015!

ceprotechThe Electrochemical Society is a partner on a grant awarded to the Ohio University Center for Electrochemical Research (CEER) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to facilitate the development of an Advanced Technology Roadmap focused on Electrochemical Pathways for Sustainable Manufacturing (EPSuM) with industrial company leadership. The goal of the roadmap is to establish an industry consortium to support, sustain, and enhance U.S. manufacturing capacity in the nation’s chemical industry and allied sectors through innovative electrochemical processes. Under the NIST Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) Program, the award will specifically support a roadmapping activity that could lead to funding to implement identified solutions.

We are working with Professor Gerri Botte, Center Director and Lisa Rooney, Industry Liaison at CEER to encourage participation in the roadmap process. Attached is a Call for Presenters for an Innovation Workshop in July. Due to the timelines for developing the roadmap, there is a short window to submit your application. Therefore, we have prepared a streamlined application that you can find here.

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Posted in Announcements
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Join the ECS Montreal Student Chapter for the 5th ECS Montreal Student Symposium.

Montreal Student Chapter Symposium 2015

This is an annual meeting for electrochemistry and materials science students in Montreal, Canada.

Abstract submission is now open until May 27, 2015. Submissions may be emailed here.

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Top 10 Scientists to Follow on Twitter

Here at ECS, we strive to encourage research, discussion, critical assessment, and dissemination of scientific knowledge. What better way to do that in the digital age than with social networks?

Twitter has been one channel that scientists have adopted in the pursuit of disseminating information and advancing the science though education. Accordingly, we’ve compiled a short list of some of the best scientists to follow on Twitter.

Donald Sadoway, @dsadoway
Professor of Material Chemistry at MIT
ECS member Donald Sadoway is a battery expert and renewable energy guru. Check him out on Twitter to learn about the latest developments in battery technology and current issues in energy and climate.

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We recently sat down with the University of Iowa’s Johna Leddy, an established researcher in electrochemical power sources and a highly respected mentor to the students of the Leddy Lab. Listen as we talk about the energy infrastructure, Dr. Leddy’s career in academia, how to make the world a better place, and more!

Listen below and download this episode and others for free through the iTunes Store, SoundCloud, or our RSS Feed.

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ECS will be offering three Short Courses at the 227th ECS Meeting this May in Chicago. Taught by industry experts, the small class size creates an excellent opportunity for personalized instruction helping both novices and experts advance their technical expertise and knowledge.

Register online today!

Short Course #2
Fundamentals of Electrochemistry – Basic Theory and Thermodynamic Methods
Jamie Noël, Instructor

This course covers the basic theory and application of electrochemical science. It is targeted toward people with a physical sciences or engineering background who have not been trained as electrochemists, but who want to add electrochemical methods to their repertoire of research approaches. There are many fields in which researchers originally approach their work from another discipline but then discover that it would be advantageous to understand and use some electrochemical methods to complement the work that they are doing. The course begins with a general, basic foundation of electrochemistry and uses it to develop the theory and experimental approaches to electrochemical problems of a thermodynamic nature. Read more.

Noel_James-JAbout the Instructor
Dr. Jamie Noël is an established electrochemist and corrosion scientist. Throughout his career, he has worked on corrosion issues in the nuclear industry and entered into academia through his position as a research scientist and adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Dr. Noël assists in training and directing students, carrying out fundamental and applied electrochemistry research projects, and teaching electrochemistry at the graduate level. He uses electrochemical and other surface analytical techniques to study the corrosion of nuclear reactor components and nuclear waste management systems material. He continues to refine techniques that combine electrochemical measurements with neutron-based materials science techniques.

Registration for the short courses has been extended through the start of the meeting.

brandon-nRegistration for the ECS Conference on Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage with SOFC-XIV, convening in Glasgow, July 26-31, 2015, is now open. The plenary session will feature Nigel Brandon, Director of the Sustainable Gas Institute at Imperial College London.

Prof. Nigel Brandon OBE FREng is also Director of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Hub, and Co-Director of the UK Energy Storage Hub. He held research positions with BP and Rolls-Royce before joining Imperial College as a Senior Lecturer in electrochemical engineering in 1998.

In 2000 he was a founder of the fuel cell company Ceres Power, acting as CEO to 2003, CTO to 2006 and Chief Scientist to 2009. He was appointed to the Shell Chair in Sustainable Development in Energy in 2005 and the BG Chair in Sustainable Gas in 2014.

He was the UK focal point with China in energy and climate change from 2007 to 2011, and Senior Research Fellow in Energy to the UK Research Councils from 2005 to 2014.

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Friday Deadline: 228th Meeting Abstracts

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Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
May 1, 2015

Submit today!

Topic Close-up #1

SYMPOSIUM F03 Membrane-Based Electrochemical Separations

FOCUSED ON High or low temperature gas separations (e.g., H2, CO2, O2); Electrodialysis; Chlorine; production; water pollution remediation; other electrochemical separations

FEATURING Meilin Liu from School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology on Mixed Ionic and Electronic Conducting Membranes for Gas Separations and Michael Stockades of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece on Electrolyte Membranes in Heterogeneous Catalysis.

Learn about all the topics!

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