Jason J. Keleher, professor and chair department of chemistry at Lewis University.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, nearly 7,000 laser strikes on aircrafts were reported in 2017.

“In cities like Chicago this problem is real as people are shining laser pointers on aircrafts during critical phases of flight, which is a big nuisance to pilots,” said Jason Keleher, a professor and chair of chemistry at Lewis University, who was approached by the aviation department at Lewis University to collaborate on a solution to this growing problem .

“Is it a bunch of kids? Is it accidental? Is somebody just like, ‘I bet you can’t hit that plane with those lasers.’ It’s really hard to identify who’s actually doing it. It’s a very interesting problem,” said Keleher, one he, the project’s principal investigator, was prepared to solve.

Keleher explains that although the lasers don’t cause permanent eye damage to pilots as they maneuver the aircraft, it does cause temporary flash blindness which may make it difficult for pilots to see control systems as they prepare for take-off and landing. He explains it is similar to the way high beams can disorient a driver upon direct exposure.
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The 235th ECS Meeting in Dallas, TX will feature six professional development workshops, providing attendees critical opportunities to develop and further their professional careers. These workshops are available to you whether you are a student looking for some help with your resume or a mid-career researcher looking for a refresher on team management. Don’t miss out!

Attendees can register by adding the session to your registration. Login to your ECS profile to add one today. For questions or assistance registering, please contact customer.service@electrochem.org.

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“Open data is the only way to move the world forward, learning from give and take to find new ways to connect the dots and have new insights, that is what electrochemistry has done already for hundreds of years.”
-Koen Kas

Koen Kas is a healthcare futurist, entrepreneur, professor of molecular oncology, acclaimed international keynote speaker, and author of Sick No More and Your Guide to Delight.

Koen is a professor of oncology at Ghent University in Belgium and chairs the scientific committee of the European Cancer Prevention Organization. He is also the founding CEO of HealthSkouts and partner at HealthStartup.eu, a social network of novel health start-ups.

You can meet Kas in person at the 235th ECS Meeting this May in Dallas, TX, where he will deliver the ECS Lecture, “Guardian Angels turning Sickcare into Healthcare.”

Listen to the podcast and download this episode and others for free through the iTunes Store, SoundCloud, or on Stitcher.

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ECS short courses are all-day classes designed to provide students or the seasoned professional an in-depth education on a wide range of topics.

Register online today!

Early registration ends April 22, 2019.
ECS short courses will be offered on Sunday, May 26, 2019.

These small classes, taught by industry and academic leaders, are an excellent opportunity to receive personalized instruction, helping both novices and experts advance their technical expertise and knowledge. (more…)

Sushanta Mitra, lead author, mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor at the University of Waterloo, and executive director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology.

“There are a lot of sensors that have been made, a lot of reliable sensors which work really well independently; however, the decision-making always requires a human,” said Ajit Khosla, sensors technical editor of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) and chair of The Electrochemical Society’s Sensor Division. Which is why the paper, “Artificial Intelligence Based Mobile Application for Water Quality Monitoring” piqued Khosla’s interest in particular.

“AI powered sensors are the future.”

“This is the first time that we have received and accepted a journal paper which involves artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, water quality management, and sensors,” said Khosla. “This work represents an example of one of those initial steps towards a smart technology driven sustainable society where data acquired by sensors helps AI make human-like decisions or human-like operations. Quantum sensors, quantum computing, and AI will transform the way we live and will play an integral role in achieving sustainability and a sustainable world. AI powered sensors are the future.” (more…)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will host the first, pilot NSF Convergence Accelerator (C-Accel) activity, which aims to fund approximately 50 Phase 1 projects at up to $1 million each.

But that’s not all – in 2020, Phase 1 projects will be eligible to apply for Phase 2 C-Accel support, of up to $5 million.

Pilot goals:

According to NSF, the purpose of the pilot is to transform how NSF supports the most innovative science and engineering to accelerate use-inspired convergence research in areas of national importance by facilitating convergent team-building capacity around exploratory, potentially high-risk proposals. (more…)

ECS members Glenn Lee (center) and Akilah Miller (front right) discuss the effect of temperature on battery performance at the Explore Your Universe 2018 event at the UCLA campus.

When ECS President Yue Kuo and ECS Executive Director and CEO Christopher Jannuzzi found themselves in California for the International Battery Association 2019 (IBA 2019) Meeting in San Diego, they knew they had to make one more stop before their trip came to an end. They had heard of an ECS Student Chapter at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) known widely for their active membership, offering a hub for nearly 20 members to gather each week to present research, gather new ideas, and even start new collaborations among different research groups.

“We contacted Ryan Henry DeBlock, the UCLA chapter chair, to schedule the visit,” said Kuo.

“Many of the students participating in this chapter are doing research in batteries and come together to exchange what they’ve learned,” said Kuo of the visit.

Kuo also took the opportunity to inform the students of the many things ECS has to offer as well. (more…)

Venkataraman Thangadurai, University of Calgary chemistry professor and associate head.

University of Calgary Chemistry Professor Venkataraman Thangadurai’s background in solid-state batteries, solid oxide fuel cells, proton conducting SOFCs, and gas sensors have made him a source for information over the years. Because of this, the longtime ECS and battery division member has been invited to present several presentations this spring.

International Battery Event

This March,  Thangadurai will speak at the International Battery Seminar & Exhibit taking place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The annual event showcases state of the art energy storage technology developments for consumer, automotive, military, and industrial applications, as well as offer attendees insights from guest speakers sharing their thoughts on significant material advancements, product development, manufacturing, and application of battery systems and enabling technologies.

ECS Biannual Meetings

Similar to the International Battery Seminar & Exhibit, ECS hosts biannual meetings on a broader scale, including a diverse number of topics in the electrochemical, solid state science, and technology field, of which Thangadurai has been a recurring speaker of.

In 2018, he attended AiMES as an invited guest speaker presenting his work, “Chemical and Electrochemical Stability of Fast Lithium Ion Conducting Garnet-Type Metal Oxides in H₂o, Aqueous Solution, CO₂, Li and S,” available in ECS Meeting Abstracts.

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Do you have an opinion you’d like to share? Do you have a story to share about what open access means to you? Or maybe you’ve published a paper with ECS and would like a platform to introduce your work and express the motives behind it?

Whatever the case …

We want to hear from you!

We’re accepting guest post submissions. Get creative and send your idea to Marketing@electrochem.org. Contributing posts may be featured in ECS newsletters and posted on all social media sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. (more…)

Dennis Corrigan, chair of the ECS Detroit Section.

Dennis Corrigan’s connection to the ECS community came quite naturally. He had been an ECS member since the 1970s, and when he moved to Detroit to work at General Motors Research Laboratories in 1979, he was naturally inclined to become involved with the ECS Detroit Section.

“We had a very large Electrochemistry Department at GM Research Labs of over 60 people and most were active members of the Detroit section. They didn’t have to twist my arm too much to join,” laughed Corrigan, who today is the chair of the ECS Detroit Section.

The section meetings acted as a gateway for Corrigan to meet other electrochemists in the field with different areas of expertise. His passion for electrochemistry made it hard to resist.

“The section allowed me to figure out what was happening more generally than just at GM Research Labs,” said Corrigan, an adjunct mechanical engineering professor at Oakland University and founder and president of DC Energy Consulting, LLC.

The same of which is true today.

The ECS Detroit Section continues to draw in electrochemists from surrounding areas, including students from local universities, companies working on batteries and fuel cell technology, and countless startups targeting various kinds of electrochemical applications. (more…)