Over 2,395 people attended the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, May 24-28, 2015. This was ECS’s first return visit to Chicago since 2007. Participants could choose among 45 symposia and over 2,300 presentations.

Paul Kohl, ECS President

Plenary Session
ECS President Paul Kohl opened the meeting by providing an update on the new fellowship with Toyota Research Instituted of North America, and highlighting the Society’s continuing growth in the open access initiative. Attendees also got their first glimpse of the Official ECS Trading Card Series, with every person at the plenary receiving an Allen J. Bard trading card.

John A. Turner, Research Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The ECS Lecture
“Hydrogen from Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting – What’s it gonna’ take?” was the title of the ECS Lecture given by Dr. John A. Turner, Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He highlighted novel developments in solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies, challenges and opportunities facing the photoelectrochemical (PEC) community, and PEC solar water splitting systems that could lead to commercial devices. His discussion also focused on metal oxides, surface treatments, and tandem cells for PEC water splitting. Listen to Dr. Turner’s podcast to learn more about PEC water splitting and the future of the energy infrastructure.

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Arizona State University’s Yixian Wang and the Allen J. Bard Award.

The 227th ECS Meeting is in full swing, and today the first ever Allen J. Bard Award was presented to Henry White. While we’ve featured White’s immense contributions to science and Bard’s impact in shaping modern electrochemistry, we’ve yet to talk about the award itself

The Allen J. Bard Award was designed by Arizona State University student Yixian Wang. Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Mirkin—who was part of Bard’s group at the University of Texas at Austin—Wang used a culmination of her scientific and artistic skills to design the Allen J. Bard Award.

The design is based in electrochemistry, featuring a fundamental electrochemical double layer.

Wang is currently completing her PhD in electrochemistry and will be presenting at the poster session during the ECS 227th Meeting.

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

ECS will be offering three Short Courses at the 227th ECS Meeting this May in Chicago. Taught by industry experts, the small class size makes for an excellent opportunity for personalized instruction helping both novices and experts advance their technical expertise and knowledge.

Register online today!

Short Course #3
Scientific Writing for Scientists and Engineers
Noel Buckley, Instructor

Are you a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow or senior researcher who would like to improve your writing skills? This course is for you! Are you a professor who spends time rewriting students’ drafts of journal papers? Then, send your students to this course or attend it yourself and learn how to improve both your own and your students’ skills! Good skills in written communication are increasingly important, whether you are in an academic or an industrial environment. The course is intended for scientists and engineers with an interest in developing their skills in writing scientific documents, including journal papers, dissertations, proposals, abstracts, and reports. Read more.

About the Instructor
Dr. Noel Buckley, past President of ECS, is currently Professor of Physics and the University of Limerick, Ireland and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Cast Western Reserve University. Prior to his shift toward academica, Dr. Buckley spent 17 years at Bell Laboratories where he played a key role in the development of epitaxial crystal growth and characterization of compound semiconductor films for high performance optoelectronic devices and earlier worked on the development of rechargeable lithium batteries. He has more than 70 research publications and has made numerous presentations at international conferences. He has organized many technical symposia and has edited ~20 volumes of symposium proceedings. He has taught a graduate-level course in Scientific Writing since 2006 at the University of Limerick and via webcast at five other universities, and he has taught the present short course at previous ECS Meetings in Vancouver, Las Vegas, Montreal, Boston, and Seattle.

Registration for the short courses has been extended through the start of the meeting.

After a several year hiatus, the Chicago Section began the revitalization process in April 2015. Leading the effort in reengaging section members and activity are Alan Zdunek and Jordi Cabana from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Eungje Lee and Arturo Gutierrez from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). They will serve as the interim executive board for the coming year.

A kick-off meeting/social reception is planned during the ECS 227th Meeting in Chicago, IL on Monday, May 25th from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., immediately following The ECS Lecture at the plenary. The reception will be jointly hosted by the Chicago Section, the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) and the Center for Electrochemical Energy Science (CEES) and the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory.

All ECS members are invited to participate in the event to learn more about future Chicago Section events and the program highlights from JCESR and CEES.

For more information contact, Interim Chair, Alan Zdunek, at zdunek@uic.edu.

Thousands of scientific leaders from around the world
will gather this spring in Chicago for the 227th ECS Meeting.

Over 50 topical symposia consisting of over 2,000 technical presentations, full-day short courses, professional development workshops, career opportunities, poster sessions, a dynamic technical exhibit and the 3rd Free the Science 5K Run. The 227th ECS Meeting is expected to attract over 2,000 scientists and engineers from industry, government, and academic institutions.

The ECS Lecture
“Hydrogen from Photoelectrochemical
Water Splitting – What’s it gonna’ take?”
John A. Turner studied under Fred Anson and Heinz Gerischer. He joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 1979 and began his work on photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production.

Society Award
The first ever Allen J. Bard Award will be presented along with the Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology.

Register for the meeting by Friday
and get a discount on your hotel room too!

PS: There is sill time to join us as an exhibitor or sponsor.
Contact dan.fatton@electrochem.org for further information.

Yes, we’ve actually made electrochemical and solid state science themed trading cards.

At the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago this May, we will be introducing our first set of Official ECS Major League Trading Cards featuring some of the greatest scientists in ECS related fields. This first batch of 50 includes some of the biggest movers and shakers in the field, past and present.

We are looking to give electrochemical and solid state science a wider exposure. Through these ECS cards, we hope to disseminate knowledge in an accessible and entertaining way.

With all of the amazing scientists in the field pioneering groundbreaking developments, it was hard for us to narrow our selection down to just 50. We hope to continue producing these cards—allowing us to highlight all of these incredible scientists.

(Click to enlarge)

While you’ll have to collect and trade to get your hands on all 50 (they come in packs of 10), everyone attending the plenary session at the 227th Meeting will get his or her very own Allen J. Bard card in celebration of the first ever award presented in his name.

Want a set for yourself? Find us in Chicago and grab a pack. (Sorry, there’s no bubble gum included.)

Know who should be in the next batch? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

Only two weeks left!
Take advantage of early-bird registration today!

Register and book your hotel by April 24,2015 to get significant discount

Register online now!

Plenary Session
Join us for the ECS Lecture being given by John A. Turner from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His talk is entitled: “Hydrogen from Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting – What’s it gonna’ take?” Learn more about the plenary and to listen to a podcast with Dr. Turner.

Award Winners
The first Allen J. Bard Award winner is Henry White, Dean of the College of Science at the University of Utah. The Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology will be presented to Yue Kuo, currently the holder of the Dow Professorship at Texas A&M University of Chemical Engineering. Learn more about society, division, and section awards.

Poster and Exhibit
These sessions are the perfect excuse to network while browsing an exciting line up of posters as well as the industry’s leading exhibitors. See the list of exhibitors.

Chicago Proceedings
The proceedings of seven Chicago symposia (H05, I05, I02, H03, H01, G02, H04) from the 227th ECS Meeting will be published in ECS Transactions (ECST) on May 15, 2015, just before the meeting in Chicago. Order your copies now with your early-bird registration.

5K Run and 1-Mile Walk
Claim your spot at the starting line on Wednesday of the meeting for the 3rd ECS Free the Science 5K and 1-Mile walk | sign up today!

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Dirk Guldi of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg will be awarded the 2015 Nanocarbons Division Richard E. Smalley Research Award for his outstanding contributions to the areas of charge-separation in donor-acceptor materials and construction of nanostructured thin films for solar energy conversion.

The prestigious award was established in 2006 to recognize in a broad sense, those persons who have made outstanding contributions to the understanding and applications of fullerenes.

Dr. Guldi’s career has a robust background in academia and research. He has held positions at Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory, and has also served as the Associate Editor of the journal Nanoscale. Since 2004, Dr. Guldi has authored or co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and has been named among the world’s 2014 Highly Cited Researchers by Thomas Reuters.

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Cammy Abernathy of the University of Florida will be awarded the 2015 Electronics and Photonics Division Award for spearheading research in materials science and engineering through thin-film electronic material innovation and novel research in metal organic chemical vapor deposition.

The prestigious award was established in 1968 to encourage excellence in electronics research and outstanding technical contribution to the field of electronics science.

Dr. Abernathy started her journey through solid state science at MIT in 1980, where she received her degree in materials science and engineering. After furthering her education at Stanford University, Dr. Abernathy continued in the world of academia at the University of Florida. She was appointed the College’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 2004, and currently holds the position of Dean of the College of Engineering.

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