Students around the world are excited to belong to The Electrochemistry Society (ECS)’s global community. The ECS student chapter program continues to add new chapters. At the recent 236th ECS Meeting, the Individual Membership Committee and Board of Directors approved the chartering of six more student chapters. They are Clarkson University (US), University of Pennsylvania (US), University of Waterloo (Canada), Yokohama National University (Japan), Swiss Student Chapter (Switzerland), and Czechoslovak Student Chapter (Czech and Slovak Republics).

Congratulations to our newest student chapters! ECS now supports 93 student chapters. (more…)

From left to right: Ramchandra Gawas, Thomas Lee Spencer, and Junpei Koike; photo by Robb Cohen Photography and Video

Established in 1993, the General Student Poster Session Awards acknowledge the excellence of students’ work. The winners display their understanding of research topics in fields of interest to The Electrochemical Society (ECS).

This year, at the 236th ECS Meeting in Atlanta, GA, almost 600 students submitted posters to the General Student Poster Session. Of them, three student posters stood out above the rest.

The recipients of the 235th ECS Meeting’s best poster awards are:

1st Place – $1,500 cash award
Ramchandra Gawas, Drexel University
Poster # 2310
“Ionic Liquid Composite Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction” (more…)

Show off your work at the 237th ECS Meeting with IMCS 2020. Students and early career professionals can present their research at special symposia.

A04 Student Battery Slam 4: Students present ten-minute flash oral presentations on their battery technology work. Awards are given for the three best talks.

Z01 ECS General Student Poster Session: Students deliver oral or poster-form presentations on their research results in electrochemical and solid-state science and technology. A competition for the best posters and papers is part of the session.

The meeting is in Montréal, Canada from May 10-15, 2020. The deadline to submit abstracts is November 15, 2019.

Graduate students in the U.S. are fighting the House Republican proposed tax plan, demonstrating protests and walk-outs in more than 40 universities across the country on Wednesday, November 29.

The current bill, which passed the House this month, includes a provision that would turn tuition waivers into taxable income. Students and economists alike state that such a provision would make continuing education unaffordable and inaccessible to many.

For many students pursing a PhD, tuition waivers and stipends are essential in making such a degree affordable. In return for taking up a position as a teaching assistant, fellow, or as a research assistant in a lab, graduate student receive a small stipend to support themselves, which Forbes estimates falls anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000 per year. Additionally, students receive tuition waivers ranging from $12,000 to $50,000 per year (depending on the university), which are paid directly by the university to the university on the student’s behalf. While students pay taxes on the stipend, the tuition waiver is non-taxable income that never even passes through the student’s hands.

The new GOP tax plan could change all of that.

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By: Alyssa Doyle, ECS Membership Intern

University of Washington Student Chapter
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ECS would like to congratulate our two 2017 Chapters of Excellence winners, the University of Washington and the Munich Student Chapter, who will receive certificates in addition to recognition in Interface for their stellar achievements in continuing to showcase their commitment to ECS’s mission.

The University of Washington’s student chapter has climbed the ranks quite rapidly since it was founded in 2016.

The 60+ members have grown their impact on electrochemical and solid state science and engineering education immensely. Some of their greatest achievements to date include:

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By: Alyssa Doyle, ECS Membership Intern

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ECS would like to congratulate the 2017 Outstanding Student Chapter winner, the University of Maryland for their dedication and commitment to the advancement of solid state and electrochemical science and technology.

The award (formerly The Gwendolyn B. Wood Section Excellence Award) was first created in 2012 to distinguish student chapters that represent and uphold ECS’s mission by maintaining an active student membership base, participating in various technical activities, and organizing community outreach in the fields of electrochemical and solid state science and engineering education.

The University of Maryland student chapter has come a long way since its initial approval in 2011 and has become one of ECS’s most exemplary chapters. The chapter previously won the Outstanding Student Chapter award in 2013 and has been a Chapter of Excellence for the last three years.

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By: Alyssa Doyle, ECS Membership Intern

As a student registrant, you have several unique opportunities to get involved in the 232nd ECS Meeting in National Harbor, MD.

Student Mixer (sponsored by BMW)
As an upcoming leader in the electrochemistry and solid state science professions, students are encouraged to attend the mixer to network with their future colleagues. Light refreshments and food will be available.

The event is being held on Monday from 1900-2100h. Student member tickets are $5 and student nonmember tickets $15.

Career Expo
A pilot-program for the society biannual meeting, the event creates the opportunity for employers/recruiters to meet and interview job-seekers, volunteers, and post-doctoral candidates in electrochemistry and solid state science.

The event will be located in the Exhibit Hall during the technical exhibit hours. Free to all meeting registrants.

Author Information Session
Join Robert Savinell, Dennis Hess, and Jeff Fergus for insight into opportunities available for publishing with ECS, understanding the journals continuous publication model and types of articles published by ECS, how to publish open access and how ECS’s Free the Science initiative supports open access for authors, where content is accessible after publication, and more.

The event will be located in Maryland 4 on Tuesday from 1600h-1700h. Open to all meeting attendees.

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