Looking back and forward to the 240th ECS Meeting
On June 14, 78 graduate and undergraduate students from around the world received notification that their posters had been chosen for exhibition at the Z01 General Student Poster Session at the 240th ECS Meeting in Orlando, FL, from October 10-14, 2021. The poster session is a forum for students to present research results to ECS meeting attendees including the most active researchers in electrochemistry and solid state science and technology. Students choose to be part of the competition for cash awards recognizing the best poster presentations.
Why give awards?
The ECS General Student Poster Session competition and awards are students’ opportunities to shine—and have their work reviewed by judges who are world-renowned leaders in the fields of electrochemistry and solid state science and technology. The awards identify and celebrate outstanding research by students from around the world, and help distinguish stand-out students for future academic and employment opportunities.
The awards are given based on the quality and thoroughness of students’ work; originality and independence of their contributions; significance and timeliness of their research results; and depth of their understanding of the research topic. However, they can mean so much more than that to the winners. The awards bring them attention, recognition, and prestige.
239th ECS Meeting Poster Award winners
Claudia Patricia Granja
“It is a very important achievement for me as an Afro-Colombian woman in science and an undergraduate,” said Claudia Patricia Granja, a student at the Universidad Santiago de Cali, Colombia. “Awards like this encourage students who will be the new generation of scientists to understand the importance of promulgating science, attending conferences, and sharing knowledge gained through research. It was a very big challenge to make the presentation in another language, but this experience taught me that there are no limits to achieving what you want. Just participating in the event was already an achievement as participation in my region is very low. However, this award and recognition makes more people aware and motivated to participate.” Granja received the 2nd place $1,000 award for her poster Z01-2009 Synthesis and Comparative Electrochemical Study of Mixed Metal Oxides Derived from Hydrotalcites Modified with Copper (II) and Nickel (II).
Joshua Coduto
The 1st Place $1,500 Award was given to Joshua Coduto, University of Iowa, U.S. for Z01-2019 An Algorithm for Fitting Tafel Data and Determining Kinetic Parameters. “Student awards give presenters a sense of accomplishment and keep students motivated and engaged with their research,” he said. “Winning the award was a wonderful surprise. It made me feel much better about my work at a time when I was feeling down about research. Graduate students’ work rarely gets critiqued by someone outside their research group. It felt good to have my work assessed positively!”
Christian D. Haas
Christian D. Haas, University of Iowa, U.S. received the 3rd Place $500 Award for Z01-2021 Designing and Implementing a Tailored Alternative Data Analysis Algorithm (TADAA) to Evaluate Quasireversible Heterogeneous Electron Transfer Measurements by Square Wave Voltammetry.
PRiME 2020 General Student Poster Award Winners
Last year’s fall meeting took place virtually and 243 students submitted posters. Three stood out from the rest:
- 1st Place ($1,500): Jong Hwa Kim, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea, Poster # 142359 Feasibility of LiNbO3 Surface Coating on High-Ni Layered Cathode Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries
- 2nd Place ($1,000): Ryota Takai, Kyoto University, Japan, Poster # 140261 Molybdenum Electroplating Using Concentrated Chloride Aqueous Solution
- 3rd Place ($500): Yuya Takekuma, Tokyo University of Science and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Poster # 140957 Increased Light Harvesting in Photosystem 1-Based Biophotovoltaics with Artificial Antenna
240th ECS Meeting General Student Poster Session
Students eager to display their posters at the meeting submitted their abstracts in April 2021. Alice Suroviec (Berry College), symposium lead organizer, reviewed all the submissions with co-organizers Andrew Herring (Colorado School of Mines), Kalphathy B. Sundaram (University of Central Florida), Vimal Chaitanya (New Mexico State University), and Venkat R. Subramanian (University of Texas at Austin).
“This special student poster session is a highlight of every ECS conference. Society members all gather to talk to student members, a unique opportunity for networking and discussing the latest developments in the electrochemical sciences. Relationships built at the poster sessions have life-long implications—a main reason why I love organizing this session. The students’ excitement and enthusiasm for their work is contagious and re-energizes me to approach electrochemical science problems with new vigor,” said Alice Suroviec, Chair, ECS Education Committee; Dean, School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences and Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Berry College, U.S.
The 78 accepted posters are by students from Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Japan, India, Ireland, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. They represent colleges and universities from all those countries, as well as partnerships with diverse companies and government institutions including:
- Central Research Institute, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation
- Central Technical Research Laboratory, ENEOS Corporation
- Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Nuclear Research Centre, Negev
- PowerPure Technology Co. Ltd.
- Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
- Synopsys Denmark
- Tosoh Corporation
- UACJ Corporation
- Urban Electric Power, Inc.
- U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center
The assembled posters present recent research by the best and brightest upcoming international scientists in the fields of electrochemistry and solid state science and related technology. They also reflect the international nature of ECS and partnerships between public and private institutions to move the science forward.
See for yourself
Don’t miss the posters on display at the 240th ECS Meeting in the Tangerine Ballroom at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, from October 10-14, 2021. Judges review the posters on Tuesday, October 12, from 1700h-1800h. Student poster presentations—brief oral summaries of the research presented in the posters—take place that day from 1800-2000h. The poster awards are announced on Wednesday, October 13, from 1815-1830h. Cash prizes are given to the presenting student author on each winning paper; the amounts are awarded at the discretion of the organizers and judges.
Registration for the meeting opens in July! Check the 240th ECS Meeting webpage frequently for updates.
