Q&A series with ECS OpenCon 2017 speakers

Brian Nosek, co-founder of the Center for Open Science

ECS will be hosting its first ever OpenCon event on October 1 in National Harbor, MD. OpenCon will be ECS’s first, large community event aimed at creating a culture of change in how research is designed, shared, discussed, and disseminated, with the ultimate goal of making scientific progress faster.

Brian Nosek, co-founder of the Center for Open Science, will be one of the featured speakers at the upcoming ECS OpenCon.

The following conversation is part of a series with speakers from the upcoming ECS OpenCon. Read the rest of the series.

ECS: What was the “aha moment” when you knew the Center for Open Science (COS) was needed?

Brian Nosek: COS began as two laboratory projects with a minimal budget, and a simple idea of testing the reproducibility of current research and building some tools to improve it. From the start, we wanted to help build a future in which the process, content, and outcomes of research are openly accessible by default. All scholarly content would be preserved and connected and transparency would stand as an aspirational good for scholarly work. All stakeholders would be included and respected in the research lifecycle and share the pursuit of truth as the primary incentive and motivation for scholarship.

For the launch of COS, it was less “aha” and more “whoa, we can do this?” Our lab projects received some media attention. One of the outcomes of that was that a number of funders contacted us with interest in the work. In particular, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation offered to support us and provided a very generous donation to elevate our aspirations from small lab effort to nonprofit organization.

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Q&A series with ECS OpenCon 2017 speakers

Ashley Farley, open access program associate at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

ECS will be hosting its first ever OpenCon event on October 1 in National Harbor, MD. OpenCon will be ECS’s first, large community event aimed at creating a culture of change in how research is designed, shared, discussed, and disseminated, with the ultimate goal of making scientific progress faster.

During ECS’s OpenCon, Ashley Farley, open access program associate at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will deliver the keynote talk, “The Importance of Open Science in a Changing Scholarly Communictions Paradigm.”

The following conversation is part of a series with speakers from the upcoming ECS OpenCon. Read the rest of the series.

ECS: Why are you interested in OpenCon?

Ashley Farley: I have greatly admired OpenCon, since I first learned about open access of scholarly communications. A critical part of any movement is a strong community and OpenCon has done an excellent job at forming and supporting a community that strives to achieve goals in the open science environment. OpenCon is particularly important to early career researchers or open access advocates starting their career and I have definitely benefited from this network. I appreciate the fact that I can give back to the OpenCon community, while still learning, engaging and partnering with others.

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Q&A series with ECS OpenCon 2017 speakers

Dan Schwartz, Boeing-Sutter Professor and director of the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington

ECS will be hosting its first ever OpenCon event on October 1 in National Harbor, MD. OpenCon will be ECS’s first, large community event aimed at creating a culture of change in how research is designed, shared, discussed, and disseminated, with the ultimate goal of making scientific progress faster.

During ECS’s Open Con, Dan Schwartz, director of the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington, will give a talk on the open science movement and academia. In addition to speaking at OpenCon, Schwartz will also co-organize the ECS Data Sciences Hack Day.

The following conversation is part of a series with speakers from the upcoming ECS OpenCon. Read the rest of the series.

ECS: When we say “data sciences,” what does this encompass?

Dan Schwartz: “Data science” is shorthand for the scientific and engineering principles that underpin efficient creation, visualization, analysis, and sharing of data. I have a conjecture—unevaluated but euphemistically called “Schwartz’s law” around here—that every PhD I graduate produce more data than the sum of all prior PhDs. Basically, each year cameras and detectors have deeper bit depth, equipment and software get more automated, more of the software tools allow data and simulation to be animated, etc. In short, both experimentalists and simulation people are seeing huge growth in data they need to analyze, visualize, and share with collaborators.

ECS: Specifically, what areas of electrochemistry and/or solid state science can most benefit from the various components of data sciences, such as open data, open source software and cloud-based computing tools, etc.?

DS: I believe we can accelerate progress and improve reproducibility of all ECS science and technology through open data, open software, and access to shared computational resources. A critical part of this is building the ECS community that establishes standards for data repositories, creates, peer evaluates, and improves software tools.

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Some of the participants at the first ISCGC-2017.
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The 1st International Semiconductor Conference for Global Challenges (ISCGC 2017) was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, July 16-19, 2017. The conference was jointly sponsored by The Electrochemical Society and the Chinese Physical Society.

The 200-plus attendees from around the world addressed the global challenges of semiconductor science and technology. The conference covered a wide spectrum of semiconductor research areas including growth and characterization, electronic/optoelectronic/power devices and their applications, and energy devices and systems.

On hand were eight keynote and 40 invited speakers. Thirty-seven contributing papers were presented, along with 66 posters. The meeting included 10 invited and keynote speakers from ECS as well as the involvement of five ECS divisions (Electronics and Photonics, Dielectric Science and Technology, Luminescence and Display Materials, Sensors, and Nanocarbons).

“ECS wants to have an influence in this region of the world as to the way scholarly publishing is carried out,” says Roque Calvo, executive director of ECS. “We want to communicate the idea of our Free the Science initiative — embracing open science to further advance research in our fields.”

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Participants of the inaugural Battery Student Slam at the 231st ECS Meeting, from left to right: Sunhyung Jurng (session chair), University of Rhode Island; Mickdy Milien (session chair), University of Rhode Island; Robert Masse, University of Washington; Jeffrey Smith, University of Michigan; Jennifer Hoffmann (session chair), BASF Corporation; Vaclav Knap, Aalborg University; and Edward Thai, California State University, Long Beach.
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The first ever ECS Battery Student Slam symposium took place at 231st ECS Meeting in New Orleans, providing young researchers a new experience in presenting oral presentations at ECS meetings. After the success of the inaugural symposium, the Battery Student Slam is set to make its second appearance at the upcoming 232nd ECS Meeting in National Harbor, MD, October 1-5.

“We’re trying to create a symposium format that’s student-friendly,” says Brett Lucht, lead organizer of the symposium at the 231st ECS Meeting.

The symposium is open to students pursing undergraduate or graduate degrees geared toward battery-related research, ranging from battery materials and design to fuel cells and supercapacitors. Each student participating in the symposium delivers a 10 minute presentation about their work followed by two minutes of questions and discussion from the audience. The top three presentations in the symposium are then recognized with cash prizes and awards as judged by the symposium organizers.

“By putting students in their own symposium and giving them shorter periods of time for their presentations, we felt it would create less stress for the students,” Lucht says.

During the inaugural symposium at the 231st ECS Meeting, Wenhao Li from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst took home the first place prize with his talk, “Nanoimprinting of Woodpile Electrodes for 3D Lithium-Ion Microbatteries with Both High Capacity and Power.”

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The 15th International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells is being held in Hollywood, FL at the Diplomat Beach Resort from July 23-28, 2017. With almost 400 abstracts being presented across six days, this meeting is sure to have something of interest for everyone.

All participants are welcome to attend a special workshop  on SOFCs and their role in distributed power. The event will include talks by Microsoft, Cummins, University of California – Irvine, and Ceres Power on inherent synergies of SOFCs when embedded in data centers or other modular power applications. The talks will be followed by a panel discussion, giving audience members a chance to ask questions and share their ideas.

This workshop seeks to provide insight from the end-user perspective; i.e., what potential buyers/users of SOFCs envision as the opportunities and risks of the technology when embedded as an inherent part of the application, and what this approach means for the direction of the future SOFC development.

Discounted hotel rooms are still available.

The Diplomat Beach Resort ushers in a new era of oceanfront perfection in South Florida. Voted a Top Florida Resort by Conde Nast Traveler Readers in 2016, the hotel’s flair for the exceptional extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway. The resort features bright, beachy guest rooms, two sun-drenched pools, a glittering, ultramodern spa, plus 10 all-new restaurants.

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The 15th International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-XV) is set to take place in Hollywood, FL, July 23-27, 2017.

This symposium will bring together scientists, engineers, and researchers from academia, industry, and government laboratories to share results and discuss issues related to solid oxide fuel cells and electrolyzers.

SOFC got its roots in 1989 when Subhash Singhal, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Battelle Fellow, initiated the symposium. After 28 years, Singhal is taking the conference back to its birthplace, drawing scientists and engineers from around across the globe.

“We have formed a world-wide community of solid oxide fuel cell researchers,” Singhal says. “Before this symposium, people were scattered among different professional societies and different scientific disciplines. This conference has been instrumental in bringing everyone together.”

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General Student Poster Session winners (L-R):1st place, Sanjana Das and Stephanie Silic (not pictured) from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 2nd place, Katrina Vuong and Laurie Clare (not pictured) from San Diego State University. Two 3rd place winners. Josie Duncan and Mary Heustess (not picture) from Clemson University and Phuong Tu Mai from Osaka Prefecture University. Honorable mention, Emily Gullette, Natalie Handson (not pictured), Emily Klutz (not pictured), and Meredith Hammer from Clemson.
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It is with great pride that ECS honors the winners of the General Student Poster Session Awards for the 231st ECS Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

ECS established the General Student Poster Session Awards in 1993 to acknowledge the eminence of its students’ work. The winners exhibit a profound understanding of their research topic and its relation to fields of interest to ECS.

In order to be eligible for the General Student Poster Session Awards, students must submit their abstracts to the Z01 General Society Student Poster Session symposium and present their posters at the biannual meeting. First and second place winners receive a certificate in addition to a cash award.

The winners of the General Student Poster Session Awards for the 231st ECS Meeting are as follows:

1st Place
Name: Sanjana Das and Stephanie Silic
Institution: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Poster Number: 2015
Poster Title: Nanotechnology for Water-Less Cleaning of Solar Panels

2nd Place
Name: Katrina Vuong and Laurie Clare
Institution: San Diego State University
Poster Number: 2021
Poster Title: Effect of Added Bases on the Redox-Responsive Dimerization of a 4 H-Bond Array Containing a Phenylenediamine Redox Couple

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There are only 10 days left to submit your abstract to the 2017 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition!

Since 1976, the Fuel Cell Seminar has been a staple for fuel cell industry professionals, researchers, and stakeholders to meet with colleagues and customers alike and see the latest developments of this exciting industry.

Attracting an international audience, the Fuel Cell Seminar features the latest fuel cell and hydrogen products, technical and market research, policy updates, and commercialization strategies for all applications and market sectors.  The Fuel Cell Seminar is the foremost event for networking with industry representatives, current and potential customers, stakeholders and decision makers interested in the clean, reliable, resilient power potential of fuel cells.

Abstract submissions are due by May 27, 2017. Please see the FCS 2017 Call for Abstracts for topic list and submission guidelines. ECS will also be publishing an issue of ECS Transactions (ECST) containing full conference papers from the 2017 Fuel Cell Seminar for interested presenters.

The Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition will be held November 7-9, 2017, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California.

For further details about the seminar, please visit www.fuelcellseminar.com.