Raymond Smith, recipient of the ECS Norman Hackerman Young Author Award

Raymond Smith was presented with the Norman Hackerman Young Author Award for his paper on “Multiphase Porous Electrode Theory” published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society. The award recognizes the best paper published by young authors or co-authors in JES the prior year.

Smith, who holds a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT and works as a senior engineer at Tesla, said he was blown away when he heard he was nominated for the award.

“Being in the community and engaging in this way has been special,” says Smith, who was presented with the award at AiMES 2018 in Cancun, Mexico. “Coming to the meeting has provided great motivation.”

His paper aimed to unify work that his team and other teams have done in the field in order to highlight connections that weren’t obvious before.
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Dogs are special. There’s no doubt about that.

In fact, they’re so unique that scientists are looking to use what we’ve learned from our furry companions to create new biosensor technology. See, dog’s noses aren’t only good for sniffing other dog’s tails at the park; they offer information. (more…)

With the holidays around the corner, it’s time to start thinking gifts. Here are our top 8 science related gifts for the science fanatic in your life.

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World
Amazon – $11.45

Introduce the world of science to your little ones and inspire the next generation of scientists with leading women and innovators of the field. (more…)

Plan S, created in a move to crack down on scholarly journals’ paywalls, is receiving pushback from scientists who call the plan “too risky for science.” According to Science Magazine, the scientists put their feelings into writing in an open letter backed by 800 signatories who say they support OA—which would make papers free and available to all—but not like this. (more…)

Thomas J. Schmidt is chair and professor of electrochemistry at ETH Zürich, and head of the Energy and Environment Research Division at Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland, where he investigates various aspects of electrochemical energy conversion and storage. In 2010, he received the ECS Charles W. Tobias Young Investigator Award.

Schmidt has recently been reappointed as an associate editor of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) and handles manuscripts submitted to the fuel cells, electrolyzers, and energy conversion topical interest area.

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Join The Electrochemical Society on November 25-30, 2018 at the 2018 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit in Boston, MA.

The MRS meeting is a great opportunity for ECS to connect with our members and other interested scientists, researchers, and academics to discuss what’s new and exciting in the field and with ECS. This meeting allows for the exchange of technical information around materials science and the ability to network with an interdisciplinary and international audience. The annual Fall Meeting takes place at the Boston’s Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel, features over 50 symposia, and is attended by as many as 6,000 researchers from every corner of the globe.

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Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
December 28, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #5

Symposium B07: Light Energy Conversion with Metal Halide Perovskites, Semiconductor Nanostructures, and Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Materials

Symposium Focus: Metal, semiconductor, and organic nanoparticles and nanostructures play important roles in fuel cells, solar energy conversion, catalysis, and hydrogen production. Recent advances in the area of inorganic/organic hybrid nanostructures, in particular metal halide perovskites, and nanomaterials have led to new understanding of their catalytic, photoelectrochemical, and photovoltaic properties. This symposium especially encourages and welcomes contributed presentations.

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Image: A. Lange & Söhne

A watch is often seen as a mark of elegance, power, and taste. Take Daniel Craig for example, the actor is the staple definition of suave and sleek, sporting thousands of dollars worth of Omega watches throughout the 007 franchise. But, how well do they hold up to an electrochemically built watch?

According to In Compliance Magazine, Empa scientists have created the next generation of watch springs, built to be scientifically powerful, tiny, and extremely durable. (more…)

Session chairs serve as an integral role in the ECS meetings. We try our best to encourage early career risers, post-grads, and young authors to get involved in the meetings by acting as session chairs. Although this is a volunteer-based program, it is a great networking opportunity, as it puts you in front of other scientists, engineers, and researchers sharing their work.

Interested in being a session chair at a symposium in Dallas? Check out the Call for Papers and reach out to the lead organizer!

Read the guidelines for session chairs.

With top academic publishers like Elsevier holding a 35-40% profit margin and for-profit academic publishers earning $25.2 billion a year, Jason Schmitt began to wonder about the consequences of paywalls on access to scientific research. His questions led to his October 2018 documentary film, Paywall: The Business of Scholarship, where he questioned publishing practices and the public’s limited access to information.

According to IMDb, while filming, Schmitt says he was struck by the global energy and enthusiasm toward open access and the strong resistance to the movement by many of the world’s top publishers. “Further, I found that the funds paid to academic publishers are heavily burdening the higher education market, contributing to the rising tuition fees at all universities, the closure of many institutions and, ultimately, limiting science and progress.” (more…)