ECS’s Energy Technology Division has presented three distinguished student awards to be accepted at the 227th ECS Meeting this May in Chicago, IL.

The Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Young Investigator Award will be presented to William Mustain of the University of Connecticut.

William Mustain earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006, followed by two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in ECS President Paul Kohl’s research group at Georgia Tech. He went on to join the Department of Chemical & Bimolecular Engineering gat the University of Connecticut in 2008.

Over the past twelve years, Prof. Mustain has worked in several areas related to electrochemical energy generation and storage, including: catalysts and supports for proton exchange membrane and anion exchange membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers, high capacity materials for Li-ion batteries, the purposeful use of carbonates in low temperature electrochemical systems, and the electrochemical conversion and utilizations of methane and CO₂.

Take a peak at his award address, “Near Room Temperature Conversion of Methane to Methanol.”

The Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Young Investigator Award was established in 2011 to recognize and reward an outstanding young researcher in the field of energy technology.

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The ECS Battery Division is now accepting award nominations.

Please help recognize outstanding contributions of The Electrochemical Society members to the science and technology of primary and secondary batteries and fuel cells through the Battery Division Awards Program.

Nominations are now being accepted for:

• Battery Division Research Award
• Battery Division Technology Award
• Battery Division Student Research Award

These annual awards have been established by the Division to encourage excellence in battery and fuel cell R&D, recognize promising young engineers and scientists and encourage their publication in the publications of the Electrochemical Society.

The deadline for nominations is March 30, 2015.

Before applying, please review the award rules and complete the appropriate form.

I strongly encourage you to submit your nominations. Thank you.

With my best regards,

Robert Kostecki
ECS Battery Division, Chair

ECS’s Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division (IE&EE) has presented two distinguished student awards to be accepted at the 227th ECS Meeting this May in Chicago, IL.

The IE&EE Student Achievement Award will be presented to Mohammad Mahdi Hasani-Sadrabadi of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Hasani-Sadrabadi is currently a graduate researcher studying bioengineering at Georgia Tech. Aside from his current studies, Hasani-Sadrabadi spent time at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where he developed microfluidic platforms for controlled synthesis of polymeric nanoparticles. In 2007, he began his research on fuel cells while at Amirkabir University of Technology. He continued to establish the Biologically-Inspired Developing Advanced Research (BiDAR) group as an international collaborative research time. His main research area of interest is the development of bio-inspired nanomaterials for energy and biomedical applications. Take a peek at Hasani-Sadrabadi’s award address: “Anhydrous High-Proton Conductor Based on Ionic Nanopeapods.”

The IE&EE Student Achievement Award was established in 1989 to recognize promising young engineers and scientists in the field of electrochemical engineering and to encourage participants to initiate careers in this field. (more…)

Prof. Sundaram has received degrees from the University of Kerala, Indian Institute of Science, and the Indian Institute of Technology.

Kalpathy B. Sundaram of the University of Central Florida will be awarded the 2015 Dielectric Science and Technology Division Thomas D. Callinan Award at the ECS 227th Meeting in Chicago this May.

This prestigious award was established by ECS in 1967 to encourage excellence in dielectrics and insulation investigations, as well as recognize outstanding research contributions in the field.

Prof. Sundaram will receive this award for showing excellence in his field through his research in thin film technology for low dielectric constant and high-k dielectric materials. Both academic and industrial researchers and engineers cite Prof. Sundaram’s contributions in solving fundamental problems with high-k materials.

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ECS President Paul Kohl presented one of the Society’s esteemed awards at the 2014 ECS and SMEQ Joint International Meeting.

The Canada Section of The Electrochemical Society is currently seeking nominations for one of its prestigious awards.

W. Lash Miller Award

The Award has been created to honor the memory of W. Lash Miller, an eminent Canadian chemist. He was the Head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto and President of The Electrochemical Society in 1912. Lash Miller was one of the first proponents of Gibbsian thermodynamics in North America.

The W. Lash Miller Award of the ECS Canada Section was established in 1967 to recognize outstanding technical contribution to the field of electrochemical science and technology and/or solid state science and technology. The candidate must have demonstrated independent research in academia, industry or governmental laboratories.

To be considered for the award, a nominee must be residing in Canada and have obtained his/her last advanced education degree no more than 15 years before the year of the Award (for this cycle, 2015). The recipient does not need to be a member of ECS. The complete award rules may be found here.

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Cancun was my second meeting. What I’ve noticed so far is how giving everyone is. Total strangers, some very important ones, have been more than willing to share their science or help me understand the inner-workings of the Society. The meetings feel like safe places where I can ask stupid questions and be vulnerable. Which, they say, is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change. (After you’ve read the highlights, go watch Brene Brown’s TED Talk  on The Power of Vulnerability. She has the research!)

Over 2,000 people attended the 2014 ECS and SMEQ Joint International Meeting in Cancun, Mexico. This was ECS’s first return visit to Cancun since 2006. Participants could choose among 51 symposia and 2,299 presentations.

(Look for photos on Facebook.)

Electrochemical Energy and Water Summit

Brainstorming breakout session at the Electrochemical Water and Energy Summit

In its first “Science for Solving Society’s Problems Challenge,” ECS partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to leverage the brainpower of the many scientists in electrochemistry and solid state science and technology that regularly attend ECS meetings. The four grantees were identified during a multi-day workshop. Over 100 researchers were guided through a brainstorming and working group session with the theme of improving access to clean water and sanitation in developing countries. The winners:

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Pictured is the funding review panel for the 2014 Electrochemical Energy and Water Summit grant proposals: Gerardo Arriaga, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnologico en Electroquimica; Kathy Ayers, Proton OnSite; Ioannis Ieropoulos, University of the West of England – Bristol; Paul Kohl, Georgia Tech, President of ECS; Barry MacDougall, National Research Council of Canada, Past President of ECS; Paul Natishan, Naval Research Laboratory, Past President of ECS; Brian Stoner, RTI International; E. Jennings Taylor, Faraday Technology Inc. and Treasurer of ECS. Non-voting observers pictured: Dan Fatton, ECS Director of Development, Roque Calvo, ECS Executive Director, Carl Hensman, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The winners of the 2014 Electrochemical Energy and Water Summit funding challenge have been selected and notified. Once we get the signed agreements from each of their institutions, we will formally announce the results.

It was an incredible experience all around. Thank you to everyone who participated.

By the numbers:

• 2,200+ attendees
• 120 participants in the facilitated brainstorm
• 47 proposals received
• 30 applicants invited to present
• 4 projects selected
• $210,000 in funding and the projects will be announced soon!

See what else happened at the meeting.

Shuji Nakamura, the recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics and former ECS Plenary speaker, is awarded for his invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes.
Credit: Randall Lamb

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Shuji Nakamura, professor of materials and of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California and 2010 ECS Plenary speaker.

The prize is for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources, and is shared with ECS member Isamu Akasaki of Meijo University and Nagoya University, Japan; and Hiroshi Amano of Nagoya University.

In his plenary talk at the 218th ECS Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nakamura described the current status of III-nitride based light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. Nitride-based white LEDs have been used for many application such as LCD TV backlight, lighting for inside/outside applications and others.

According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, when Nakamura, Akasaki and Amono “produced bright blue light beams from their semiconductors in the early 1990s, they triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology. Red and green diodes had been around for a long time, but without blue light, white lamps could not be created. Despite considerable efforts, both in the scientific community and in industry, the blue LED had remained a challenge for three decades.”

The LED lamp “holds great promise for increasing the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world who lack access to electricity grids,” the academy continued.

Here’s a list of articles in the ECS Digital Library written by the 2014 Physics Nobel Prize Winners. You can look at them for free:

Hiroshi Amano and Isamu Akasaki

Widegap Column-III Nitride Semiconductors for UV/Blue Light Emitting Devices

Growth and Luminescence Properties of Mg-Doped GaN Prepared by MOVPE

Isamu Akasaki

Epitaxial Growth and Properties of AIxGal.xN by MOVPE

Etching Characteristics and Light Figures of the {111} Surfaces of GaAs

Shuji Nakamura

Piezoelectric Field in Semi-Polar InGaN/GaN Quantum Wells

Read more about Shuji Nakamura’s plenary talk.

Read more about 2014 Nobel Prize winners for Physics.

Be recognized for your outstanding technical achievements in electrochemical and solid-state science and technology through our prestigious Honors and Awards.

Nomination deadlines are fast approaching for Society awards.

Carl Wagner Memorial Award of The Electrochemical Society
Deadline: October 1, 2014

The Carl Wagner Memorial Award was established in 1980 to recognize a mid-career achievement and excellence in research areas of interest of the Society, and significant contributions in the teaching or guidance of students or colleagues in education, industry, or government. The award commemorates Carl Wagner, a man of outstanding scientific achievement with important contributions in all areas of the Society’s interest, the Society’s first Palladium Award winner, and a dedicated teacher.

The Award Recipient shall have made significant achievements in research in areas of interest to the Society. The Recipient shall have contributed strongly to the guidance and development of students or associates in education, industry, or government. The Recipient shall have attained a level of professional achievement that, in the judgment of the Carl Wagner Award Subcommittee, justifies the objective of recognizing mid-career achievement. The research and teaching or guidance being recognized shall have encompassed interdisciplinary breadth.

The recipient does not need to be a member of The Electrochemical Society. There shall be no restrictions or reservations regarding sex, race, citizenship, or place of origin or residence. The award shall consist of an appropriately worded scroll, sterling medal, complimentary meeting registration for award recipient and companion, a dinner held in recipient’s honor during the designated meeting, and Life Membership in The Society.

Nominate a colleague here by October 1, 2014

Here’s a great paper talking about Carl Wagner’s (among others) contributions to the sciences.

Find out more about our awards program.

Through our Honors and Awards and Program, ECS recognizes outstanding technical achievements in electrochemistry and solid-state science and technology

Nomination deadlines are fast approaching for Society awards.

Olin Palladium Award
Deadline: October 1, 2014

This important award was established in 1950 for distinguished contributions to the field of electrochemical or corrosion science.

The recipient shall be distinguished for contributions to the field of electrochemical or corrosion science. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding of all types of electrochemical and corrosion phenomena and processes. The recipient does not need to be a member of The Electrochemical Society. There shall be no restrictions or reservations regarding age, sex, race, citizenship, or place of origin or residence.

The award shall consist of a Palladium medal and a plaque that contains a bronze replica thereof, both bearing the recipient’s name, the sum of $7,500, complimentary meeting registration for award recipient and companion, a dinner held in recipient’s honor during the designated meeting, and Life Membership in The Society.

Nominate a colleague here by October 1, 2014