Attendees of the 1st ECS Student Chapter Munich Symposium at the entrance of the TUM IAS building. TUM is the top academic institution by student ECS membership!

Student membership is fundamental to ECS. Without student members—its inquisitive, innovative minds—the ECS would not be the thriving organization it is today.

The ECS has put down roots in academic institutions around the world that grow each and every day. ECS staff recently analyzed membership data to determine which academic institutions had the greatest presence based upon student ECS membership.

The chart below lists the top 40 academic institutions based upon student ECS membership.

Note: This analysis recognizes only student ECS members in good standing. Expired members were not taken into account.

Check out the chart to find out if your institution made the list!

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ECS Student Chapter Munich hosted its first-ever symposium on February 15, 2016, featuring invited talks by Professor Jeff Dahn and Professor Thomas J. Schmidt, a poster session, and numerous opportunities for discussion and networking.

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On January 22, 2016, the ECS Montreal Student Chapter hosted its first ever electrochemistry workshop. The focus of the workshop was the fabrication of silver-silver chloride reference electrodes, a staple of most electrochemistry experiments.

The workshop included a short presentation discussing the theoretical aspects of references electrodes, after which students could observe a demonstration. Finally, each student was allowed to perform the fabrication protocol and everyone brought home their own reference electrode!

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We talk about climate change a lot here at ECS, but the realities of rising sea levels and record-breaking carbon emissions in the atmosphere makes for pretty grim material. In an effort to drum up support for environmental protection, Defend Our Future teamed up with Funny or Die to give the climate change discussion a little comic relief.

Cloris Leachman, Michael Lerner, and a few other funny people discuss how seniors view climate change – or as they describe it, the “after I’m dead problem.”

After all the laughs, Defend our Future has one simple message: old people don’t care about climate change, that’s why you have to.

Dr. Ardemis A. Boghossian

The Roger Taylor Award is a travel grant for students and early career researchers who have achieved up to ten years of postdoctoral experience to attend the 229th meeting of The Electrochemical Society and submit to Symposium B: Carbon Nanostructures and Devices. The Roger Taylor Award is generously funded by the Taylor family as an endowment to the British Carbon Group.

Dr. Ardemis A. Boghossian
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC)
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

The winner of the 2016 Roger Taylor award is Dr. Ardemis A. Boghossian who is currently an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC) of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Dr. Boghossian received her BSE in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a Postdoc in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

Currently, Dr. Boghossian implements an interdisciplinary approach to addressing fundamental challenges and developing novel technologies that exploit the synergy between nanotechnology and synthetic biology. The award consists of a certificate and a £750 prize. Join us at the 229th ECS biannual meeting in San Diego where she will deliver Wrapped Up in Nanotubes: Dynamics of Wrapped Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) within the B Symposia: Carbon Nanostructures and Devices.

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Building a sustainable future

Image: NASA

Over 40 years ago, the modern environmental movement was born. Passion and concern drove a small group of twenty-somethings together in a rallying cry to create a more environment-conscious society, establishing what has become known as Earth Day.

The original Earth Day focused on the issues of pollution, but today’s modern Earth Day focuses the pressing global issue of climate change.

Global challenges

Currently, carbon dioxide levels in the air are at their highest in over 650,000 years, the global temperature has risen 1.4°F since 1880, and the sea level nearly 7” over the past 100 years.

While a few people and politicians may sill dismiss climate change, around 200 worldwide scientific organizations now formally hold the position that climate change has been caused by human action. Additionally, nearly 170 countries are preparing to sign the Paris Climate Agreement today, which will put global plans into motion in an effort to tackle the issue of rising temperatures.

The science of renewable energy

Here at ECS, we believe the path to stopping climate change and tackling these issues that are devastating the environment begins with science.

With population growth and industrialization, global energy needs continue to grow. Economic, political, and environmental issues are largely dictated by energy needs.

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Nanostructures on the surface of the fabric.
Image: Queensland University of Technology

Oil spills have had an extensive history of disrupting the environment, killing ecosystems, and displacing families. Impacts of massive oil spills are still felt in many parts of the world, including the undersea spill at the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that dumped an approximate 39 million gallons of oil into the gulf.

But what if these devastating oil spills could be easily cleaned up with a piece of fabric rooted in electrochemistry?

That may be a reality soon thanks to researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). According to a release, the QUT researchers have developed a multipurpose fabric covered with semi-conducting nanostructures that can both mop up oil and degrade organic matter when exposed to light.

(READ: “Superhydrophobic Fabrics for Oil/Water Separation Based on the Metal-Organic Charge-Transfer Complex CuTCNAQ“)

The fabric, which repels water and attracts oil, has already has promising preliminary results. In the early stages of research, the scientists have already been able to mop up crude oil from the surface of both fresh and salt water.

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Researchers Phil Baran (left) and Evan Horn pose in front on an electric car, showcasing how the principals of sustainable transportation pertain to sustainable chemistry in the new allylic oxidation reaction.
Image: The Scripps Research Institute

Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a new technique that has the potential to boost a traditional chemical reaction, opening doors for new developments in pharmaceuticals and other industries.

The researchers developed an easier, cheaper, and greener way to preform allylic oxidation – a process that typically employs toxic or expensive reagents and has previously been difficult, if not impossible, to implement on a large scale. By using the power of old-fashioned electrochemistry, the TSRI researchers discovered a way to make the process scalable through the use of safe chemicals.

(READ: “Scalable and sustainable electrochemical allylic C-H oxidation“)

“Turns out one of the best reagents you can buy is sitting in your wall socket,” said principal investigator Phil Baran. “The scope of the reaction is just phenomenal. It’s super easy to do, and the overall improvement in environmental sustainability is dramatic.”

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On Friday, May 6, 2016, the ECS New England section will host a meeting featuring a distinguished speaker at Northeastern University, and you’re invited!

What’s more, this event is free to attend! So come on out to Boston for a night, engage with your peers in the ECS community, and learn about redox flow batteries from an expert in the field of electrochemistry!

Location

Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts
Egan Research Building
Room 306
Directions

Schedule

6:00 p.m. | Welcome & Election of Section Officers
7:00 p.m. | Invited Talk | Dr. Ertan Agar, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

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Are you a current or prospective ECS member interested in long-term membership within our thriving community? If so, then multi-year membership may be for you!

ECS offers different membership plans to meet the needs of individuals in academica, industry, and government. The multi-year membership option is designed to accommodate your personalized needs. For your convenience, the multi-year membership option allows you to choose to become an ECS member for 2 years, 3 years, or 5 years.

What’s more, all three of these options will result in savings!

See the table below for multi-year membership pricing.

As a multi-year member, you will receive all of the benefits of ECS membership, including 100 free full-text downloads from the ECS Digital Library, discounts on meeting registrations, unlimited electronic access to ECS meeting abstracts, and a subscription to Interface.

Make a lasting commitment to the ECS and stop worrying about renewing your membership every single year. Become a multi-year member today!

Questions? Contact customerservice@electrochem.org.