Nomination Deadlines: September 1, 2018
The ECS Energy Technology Division offers three awards annually and now is the time to consider a colleague, friend, mentor or protégé for recognition.
According to Science Magazine, a new science adviser may soon join President Donald Trump’s team. Trump announced on August 2, that he intends to nominate meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier, a university administrator and former vice-chair of the governing board of the U.S. National Science Foundation, to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. This decision made after 560 days, double the amount of time taken by any other president to name a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director.
Droegemeier’s position would mean advising the president on technical issues and overseeing coordination of federal science policy. With Droegemeir in office, the science community has high hopes for the future of climate change and his ability to advocate for it.
Posted in Announcements
Hieu Quang Pham, the Korea Section Student Award winner for 2018.
Nomination Deadline: September 30, 2018
ECS recognizes outstanding technical achievements in electrochemistry and solid-state science and technology through its Honors & Awards Program. There are many deserving members of the Korea Section among us and this is an opportunity to highlight their contributions.
We are currently accepting nominations for the following award:
Korea Section Student Award was established in 2005 to recognize academic accomplishments in any area of science or engineering in which electrochemical and/or solid state science and technology is the central consideration. The award is intended to encourage students who are pursuing a PhD at a Korean university to initiate or continue careers in the field.
(Learn more about electrochemical engineering and pharmaceutical compounds, visit us at AiMES 2018 in Cancun, Mexico from September 30 – October 4, 2018.)
Carbon-nitrogen bonds are the stuff pharmaceuticals are made of. And according to Cornell University, they’re so essential that over 85 percent of the top selling pharmaceuticals have at least one carbon-nitrogen bond. That is to say, advances in carbon-nitrogen bond technology would mean great advances to the drug industry.
Song Lin, a Cornell University researcher in the chemistry and chemical biology field and ECS member of the organic and biologic division, is working on doing just that. He says that with electrochemistry, a process that directly uses electricity to drive chemical reactions, it would be possible to create carbon-nitrogen bonds in a sustainable manner. The only problem is that electrochemical reactions often do not offer the chemical selectivity and efficiency needed to accomplish a particular transformation – a problem Lin and his team are working to solve.
The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, a partnership between The Electrochemical Society and Toyota Research Institute of North America, a division of Toyota Motor North America, is in its fourth year. The 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.
2018-2019 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellows
Professor Kimberly See, California Institute of Technology
ECS Battery Division
“Structural Distortions in Multi-Electron Cathodes for High Capacity Batteries”
Professor Iryna Zenyuk, University of California, Irvine
ECS Energy Technology Division
“Addressing the Activation Overpotential in Fuel Cell Cathodes”
According to the Georgia Institute of Technology, crab shells and trees may soon replace the flexible plastic packaging used to keep food fresh. The innovative process involves spraying multiple layers of chitin from crab shells and cellulose from trees to form a flexible film similar to plastic packaging film. Once fully dried, the material is flexible, strong, transparent, and compostable.
Not only will these lifeforms become a source of sustainable and renewable wrapping, but they will also help improve food quality. Compared to conventional plastic packaging, the new technology offers a 67 percent reduction in oxygen permeability, allowing food to stay fresh even longer.
Earlier this year, ECS hosted a membership drive that successfully recruited 167 new and renewed 89 members and student members. We know that recruiting is no easy task.
That’s why we are asking for your help!
ECS is challenging our members and student members to recruit a friend to become a new member starting on August 1, 2018.
We are giving away a 2019 biannual meeting registration to recognize the top recruiter’s efforts; the second place performer will receive a five-year ECS membership; and, the third place recruiter will receive a three-year ECS membership.
Shuai Chen Winner of the 2018 Canada Section Student Award
Posted on July 26, 2018 by Marcelle Austin
The winner of the 2018 Canada Section Student Award is Shuai Chen!
Shuai (Sharon) Chen graduated from Lakehead University with an MSc in electrochemistry. She worked on fundamental studies of Pd based materials for hydrogen storage and purification. Her research provided a thoughtful guidance for commercial hydrogen purification films. During this period, she was awarded a travel grant from the ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division and the High Output and Publication Excellence Award from Lakehead University.
According to Research4Life, the Research4Life partners have announced their agreement to extend their commitment to free and low-cost access to peer-reviewed eResources to 2025. The renewed commitment means that nearly 85,000 peer reviewed academic journals, including the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, available through the public-private Research4life partnership, will continue to reach research communities in low and middle income countries.
The program’s success in reducing the knowledge gap between high, middle, and low income countries has received an overwhelming amount of support from the partners, which lead to the extension, says Daniel M. Dollar, chair of the Research4Life executive committee and associate university librarian for collections, preservation, and digital scholarship at Yale University Library.
“Research4Life is a shining example of public and private organizations coming together with a shared vision of the power of information to improve people’s lives,” says Dollar.
Tagged Research4Life
Gerald Frankel, a technical editor of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, corrosion expert, and open access advocate.
The aftereffects of the Flint water crisis is still felt strongly four years later. Just this year, dozens of Flint, Michigan, residents were outraged by the state’s decision to end a free bottled water program. A program that came into effect after it was discovered the water in Flint was unsafe for consumption.
The catastrophe came to fruition when measures were taken by elected officials to cut costs. The result of which led to tainted drinking water that contained lead and other toxins.
Gerald Frankel, a professor of materials science and engineering at The Ohio State University, touched on the matter in an ECS Podcast interview.
“It was avoidable,” says Frankel, who explained that because water is corrosive, drinking water is treated to reduce the corrosive effects on the pipes that carry it. However, due to financial issues the town of Flint was facing, their source of the water changed from Lake Michigan to the Flint River. “And they decided not to do this chemical treatment.”
Posted in Materials science
