The 227th ECS Meeting begins this coming Sunday, May 24. We’re excited to see you there! In preparation, we’ve put together a quick checklist to make sure you’re prepared for all of the events of the meeting.

Not going to the meeting? Make sure to keep up with the blog and follow us on Facebook at Twitter to get a peak at all of the events!

My Meeting Checklist:

Schedule sessions, meetings, events on meeting app | check it out now
Order Chicago proceedings | what’s published now
Submit article to an ECS journal | use free article credit
Go to the Pine and Metrohm exhibitors’ workshops | exhibitor hall
Read Daily News emails starting Sunday

While I’m at the registration desk:

Sign up for 5K | bring sneakers
Get ticket for annual business meeting/lunch | read minutes now
Get tickets for division luncheons

Concrete is the world’s most popular building material, but the material’s durability deteriorates over years allowing for potentially devastating consequences. One researcher from Delft University of Technology, Henk Jonkers, has made it his mission to combat this issue by developing a “living concrete.”

Jonkers’ development has produced a new type of concrete that can fix its own cracks by using a bacteria healing agent.

“We are combining nature with construction materials,” said Jonkers.

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The liquid metal antenna can be tuned to listen to various frequencies by applying electrical voltage.
Image: Jacob Adams/NCSU

The scientific community has been trying to tap into the potential of liquid metals for some time now, but have faced roadblocks in developing something that is highly efficient when paired with electronics. Now, North Carolina State University researchers have successfully designed a liquid metal antenna controlled by only electrical voltage.

The work is relatively simple in theory. A positive voltage applied to a liquid metal will make it expand, whereas the application of a negative voltage will make it contract.

“Our antenna prototype using liquid metal can tune over a range of at least two times greater than systems using electronic switches,” said Jacob Adams, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NCSU.

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Top 30* includes student chapters such as the Research Triangle Student Chapter. Officers include Isvar Cordova, Dominica H. C. Wong, James Daubert, and Marty Dufficy.

“I joined ECS because of its reputation in the field of electrochemistry and its focus on supporting its members. While a member of ECS, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with experts in the field of electrochemistry that I would not have been able to do if I was not an ECS member. ECS provides opportunities for students to not only interact with local electrochemists, but to also travel to international meetings to meet and talk with experts in the field.”

James Daubert, PhD student
North Carolina State University

ECS staff recently analyzed membership data to determine which universities had the greatest presence within the society. Here is what we discovered:

 Top 30* Universities by ECS Student Members

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ECS’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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The ultra-low power sensor can scan the contents of liquids such as perspiration.
Image: EPFL/Jamani Caillet

Researchers from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed an ultra-low power sensor to monitor health through the scanning of perspiration.

Director of Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory (Nanolab) at EPFL, Adrian Ionescu—ECS published author in both the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and ECS Transactions—states that the new sensor can sync to your mobile device to alert you of your hydration, stress, and fatigue levels.

“The ionic equilibrium in a person’s sweat could provide significant information on the state of his health,” says Ionescu. “Our technology detects the presence of elementary charged particles in ultra-small concentrations such as ions and protons, which reflects not only the pH balance of sweat but also more complex hydration of fatigues states. By an adapted functionalization I can also track different kinds of proteins.”

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With the largest digital collection of electrochemistry and solid state related proceedings, ECST has published 800+ issues and over 17,000 articles since its launch in 2005.

New issues of ECS Transactions have now been published from the upcoming 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago, to be held May 24-28, 2015. 

Seven “enhanced” issues of ECST are now available. They will also be for sale at the ECS bookstore at the meeting.

As always, issues of ECST are continuously updated and all full-text papers will be published here as soon as they are available. Get currently published issues of ECST. To be notified of newly published articles or volumes, please subscribe to the ECST RSS feed.

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

Submission deadline for presentations is June 5, 2015!

The 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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Join the ECS Montreal Student Chapter for the 5th ECS Montreal Student Symposium.

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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Proton OnSite, the world leader in commercializing proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis, will be awarded the 2015 Industrial Electrochemistry & Electrochemical Engineering Division New Electrochemical Technology (NET) Award at the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago.

The NET award was established in 1998 to recognize significant advances in industrial electrochemistry. The year’s award will be presented to Proton OnSite for the development of their C Series Hydrogen Generator. This new system has high strategic importance in that it continues to validate the technological advantage of PEM-based electrolysis at a scale similar to alkaline liquid based systems, without the disadvantages of the caustic electrolyte and high-pressure oxygen generation.

The new system has promising potential for the next generation of fueling stations for fuel cell bus demonstrations and for the refueling of small fleets of cars or forklift trucks.

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