From left to right: Elizabeth Biddinger, City College of New York; Joaquin Rodriguez Lopez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Joshua Snyder, Drexel University

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship Selection Committee has selected three recipients who will receive a minimum of $50,000 each for fellowships for projects in green energy technology. The winners are Professor Elizabeth Biddinger, City College of New York; Professor Joaquin Rodriguez Lopez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Professor Joshua Snyder, Drexel University.

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, a partnership between The Electrochemical Society and Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), is in its second year. A diverse applicant pool of more than 100 young professors and scholars pursuing innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology responded to ECS’s request for proposals.

“Scientists and engineers seek to unveil what is possible and to exploit that knowledge to provide solutions to the myriad of problems facing our world,” says ECS Executive Director Roque Calvo. “We are proud to have the continued support of Toyota in this never ending endeavor to uncover new frontiers and face new challenges.”

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship aims to encourage young professors and scholars to pursue research in green energy technology that may promote the development of next-generation vehicles capable of utilizing alternative fuels.

Global development of industry and technology in the 20th century increased production of vehicles and the growing population have resulted in massive consumption of fossil fuels. Today, the automotive industry faces three challenges regarding environmental and energy issues:

(1) Finding a viable alternative energy source as a replacement for oil
(2) Reducing CO2 emissions
(3) Preventing air pollution

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Reutilizing carbon dioxide to produce clean burning fuels

David Go has always seen himself as something of a black sheep when it comes to his scientific research approach, and his recent work in developing clean alternative fuels from carbon dioxide is no exception.

In 2015, Go and his research team at the University of Notre Dame were awarded a $50,000 grant to purse innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology through the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship. With a goal of aiding scientists in advancing alternative energies, the fellowship aims to empower young researchers in creating next-generation vehicles capable of utilizing alternative fuels that can lead to climate change action in transportation.

The road less traveled

While advancing research in electric vehicles and fuel cells tend to be the top research areas in sustainable transportation, Go and his team is opting to go down the road less traveled through a new approach to green chemistry: plasma electrochemistry.

(MORE: Read Go’s Meeting Abstract on this topic, entitled “Electrochemical Reduction of CO_2(aq) By Solvated Electrons at a Plasma-Liquid Interface.”)

“Our approach to electrochemistry is completely a-typical,” Go, associate professor at the University of Notre Dame, says. “We use a technique called plasma electrochemistry with the aim of processing carbon dioxide – a pollutant – back into more useful products, such as clean-burning fuels.”

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Congratulations to the recipients of the 2016 ECS Summer Fellowships!

Offered since 1928, the summer fellowship program is designed to assist students during the summer months, June through September, in the pursuit of work in a field of interest to the ECS.

Fellowship Recipients

Dr. Yelena Gorlin
Technische Universität München
Supervisor, Dr. Hubert A. Gasteiger
Colin Garfield Fink Summer Fellowship*

Soo Kim
Northwestern University
Advisor, Dr. Christopher M. Wolverton
Edward G. Weston Summer Fellowship

Charuksha T. Walgama
Oklahoma State University
Advisor, Dr. Sadagopan Krishnan
Joseph W. Richards Summer Fellowship

Muhammad Boota
Drexel University
Advisor, Dr. Yury Gogotsi
F. M. Becket Summer Fellowship

Michael Metzger
Technische Universität München
Advisor, Dr. Hubert A. Gasteiger
Herbert H. Uhlig Summer Fellowship

*The Colin Garfield Fink Summer Fellowship Award is designed to assist a postdoctoral scientist or engineer in the pursuit of battery research during the summer months.

Look for more information in November 2016 for your chance to apply for one of these prestigious fellowships in 2017!

Interested in other ECS opportunities like these? Click here to learn about additional ECS programs!