My name is Andrew Ryan. For the past eight months, I served as a Membership Services Intern at ECS under the direction of Beth Fisher. Though I worked on many different projects throughout my time at ECS, my primary contribution was writing membership related posts for the ECS website’s Redcat Blog. A great deal of the posts written over the course of the past eight months with the byline “ECS Staff” were written by me.

An English major who graduated from The College of New Jersey this past May, I was absolutely honored to have the opportunity to write for a website with such a thriving viewership. It was beyond fulfilling to be able to apply my passion for writing in a professional environment.

But ECS was more to me than a writing outlet. It was more to me than a desk job or a resume line. It was a truly, positively rewarding experience.

Let me tell you why.

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Cards Against Humanity, the comedy card game, has announced that applications are now being accepted for their Science Ambassador Scholarship. The scholarship is geared to award full-tuition to young women seeking undergraduate degrees in STEM.

This year, one winner will be selected by a board of sixty women in STEM to receive full tuition coverage for up to four years.

“I’m so excited that we’re able to offer another scholarship for a woman studying STEM. A lot of us at Cards Against Humanity have backgrounds in science and tech, and the under-representation of women in these fields is staggering,” says Jenn Bane, the Cards Against Humanity community director. “Ask a kid to draw a scientist, they’ll draw a man in a lab coat, because science and math are historically male-dominated fields. Cards Against Humanity has a large audience, so with the Science Ambassador Scholarship we hope to help change the public perception of what a scientist looks like.”

To apply, applicants must submit a three-minute video explaining a scientific topic they’re passionate about. Find more details here.

PS: If you want to contribute to the fund, you can pick up the Science Pack to add to your Cards Against Humanity Deck. All profits go to the Science Ambassador Scholarship.

Mike Zach demonstrating his novel NanoFab Lab… in a Box! during the ECS Meeting!

“What I do is simply help develop confidence in students.”

That’s Mike Zach’s mission with his exceptionally novel NanoFab Lab… in a Box!

Looking to inspire young people and help propel them in scientific careers, Zach took it upon himself to develop an affordable, self-automated, easy to use nanolab.

What Zach is doing is allowing students to understand complex science and have a hands-on experience in making patterned nanowires. Typically nanowires need a multimillion dollar lab to be produced, but Zach has streamlined this process in order to give high school-aged students all over the country a chance to immerse themselves in this seemingly limitless science.

“I’m just looking to get more students involved in electrochemistry… in the science,” said Zach.

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David Wipf talks about the ECS Podcast during the Bard and Moore Award Winners Dinner at the 227th ECS Meeting Meeting.

From undergrads to PhD students, ECS’s David Wipf covers the educational spectrum at Mississippi State University. His goal? Wipf wants to get more students interested in science by showing them the human side of scientists and what happens beyond the lab.

Wipf recently heard Johna Leddy’s ECS podcast immediately saw the value in it for his students.

“It’s great that students get to hear how these scientists started,” said Wipf. “They weren’t super geniuses—they just liked science.”

As a professor in analytical chemistry, Wipf is always striving to get his students excited about science. While guests on the ECS podcast—such as Subhash Singhal and John Turner—happen to be very prominent scientists, Wipif appreciates the fact listeners get to see the unique stories of the guests’ roots and early scientific career.

“The podcasts show that everybody could do it if they wanted to,” said Wipf.

Here at ECS, we strive to encourage research, discussion, critical assessment, and dissemination of scientific knowledge. What better way to do that in the digital age than with social networks?

Twitter has been one channel that scientists have adopted in the pursuit of disseminating information and advancing the science though education. Accordingly, we’ve compiled a short list of some of the best scientists to follow on Twitter.

Donald Sadoway, @dsadoway
Professor of Material Chemistry at MIT
ECS member Donald Sadoway is a battery expert and renewable energy guru. Check him out on Twitter to learn about the latest developments in battery technology and current issues in energy and climate.

#Energy#Storage still far too costly and without it, intermittent #renewables are paralyzed. Time for innovation.

— Donald R. Sadoway (@dsadoway) May 11, 2015

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

Register online today!

Short Course #2
Fundamentals of Electrochemistry – Basic Theory and Thermodynamic Methods
Jamie Noël, Instructor

This course covers the basic theory and application of electrochemical science. It is targeted toward people with a physical sciences or engineering background who have not been trained as electrochemists, but who want to add electrochemical methods to their repertoire of research approaches. There are many fields in which researchers originally approach their work from another discipline but then discover that it would be advantageous to understand and use some electrochemical methods to complement the work that they are doing. The course begins with a general, basic foundation of electrochemistry and uses it to develop the theory and experimental approaches to electrochemical problems of a thermodynamic nature. Read more.

About the Instructor
Dr. Jamie Noël is an established electrochemist and corrosion scientist. Throughout his career, he has worked on corrosion issues in the nuclear industry and entered into academia through his position as a research scientist and adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Dr. Noël assists in training and directing students, carrying out fundamental and applied electrochemistry research projects, and teaching electrochemistry at the graduate level. He uses electrochemical and other surface analytical techniques to study the corrosion of nuclear reactor components and nuclear waste management systems material. He continues to refine techniques that combine electrochemical measurements with neutron-based materials science techniques.

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

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.

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 #1
Nanotechnology for Bioenergy: Biofuels to Fuel Cells
Shelley D. Minteer, Instructor

This course is perfect for those with an interest in biofuels and renewable energy. Attendees can expect to learn about the production and use of biofuels, the advances in synthetic biology that have improved biofuel production, advance sin ananotechnology that have improved electrochemical biofuel production, electrochemical uses of biofuel, and more—including fuel cells, enzmatic biofuel cells, and microbial biofuel cells. Read more.

About the Instructor
Dr. Shelley D. Minteer is most well known for her contributions to the use of catalytic cascades for anodic electrocatlaysis. In 2003, Professor Minteer co-founded Akermin, Inc. with her previous graduate student, which has focused on the commercialization of her biofuel cell technology and has moved on to carbon capture technology. Her roles with ECS have included: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and Member-at-Large of the Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division, as well as being a member of multiple other Society committees. She is currently the technical editor for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and ECS Electrochemistry Letters.

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.

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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.

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

Register online today!

Three Short Courses will be offered on Sunday, May 24, 2015.

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.

Short Course #1
Nanotechnology for Bioenergy: Biofuels to Fuel Cells
Instructor: Shelley D. Minteer

Short Course #2
Fundamentals of Electrochemistry – Basic Theory and Thermodynamic Methods
Instructor: Jamie Noël

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

The registration fee:                                                             Students get a 50% discount:
ECS Members: $425                                                                 ECS Student Members: $212.50
Nonmembers: $550                                                                   Nonmember Students: $275

Become a member today and save over 20% on short courses!

Pre-registration is required. Deadline is April 24, 2015.

Learn more!