By examining paint segments from Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” experts believe preservation techniques could be improved.
Credit: Van Gogh Gallery

Electrochemical and solid state science transcend the limits of academic science to touch many of the things we come into contact with on a day-to-day basis, whether we know it or not. Most recently we’ve gotten a first-hand account of this at our Electrochemical Energy and Water Summit, where some of the brightest minds in electrochemical and solid state science came together to solve critical issues in global sanitation. Now, these sciences are even assisting in the preservation of culture.

Pin-sized painting samples from Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting have been extracted from the Van Gogh Museum and are now under the microscope at The University of Queensland’s Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM).

UQ’s Professor John Drennan is leading the project, which aims to understand the aging characteristics of significant artworks in order to improve conservation techniques.

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ECS past presidents who were involved with the Manhattan Project. Clockwise starting at the top left: Lyle I. Gilbertson, Walter J. Hamer, Norman Hackerman, Harold J. Read

Here in the home office we are not just honoring U.S. Veterans today. As a society with international membership, we are thinking about the men and women who have served their countries around the world.

We couldn’t help but look into how electrochemistry and solid state science might have shaped a soldier’s life.

It turns out, when you are working for an organization that has been around since 1902 and that cuts across so much of our everyday lives, you have enough material to write a book on any one subject.

Here are just a few nuggets:

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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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Find openings in your area via the ECS job board.

ECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid-state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board:

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Battery Manufacturing
Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Under general supervision, the postdoctoral research associate will be conducting research specifically in battery manufacturing R&D to lower cost, raise energy density, increase production yield, and address manufacturing bottlenecks. This incumbent will work in close collaboration with other researchers involved with ORNL’s applied energy storage program. This position resides in the Department of Energy (DOE) Battery Manufacturing Facility and the Manufacturing Systems Research Group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Director at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy Production (HI ERN)
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH – Jülich, Germany
We are seeking an internationally respected researcher in the field of electrocatalysis, who is capable of further developing in particular the material and process engineering principles of electrolytic water splitting at the highest scientific level. It is envisaged that research activities will be complementary to and interlinked with work at Jülich‘s Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK) with its sub-institutes involved in electrochemical, process engineering, and materials science research, and with research work at the Erlangen cluster of excellence Engineering of Advanced Materials.

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.

ECS is awarding $210,000 of seed funding to four innovative research projects addressing critical technology gaps in water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges being faced around the world.

Winners of the first Science for Solving Society’s Problems Challenge:

Artificial Biofilms for Sanitary/Hygienic Interface Technologies (A-Bio SHIT)
Plamen Atanassov, University of New Mexico, $70,000
Interfaces: Produce bio-catalytic septic cleaning materials that incorporate microorganisms removing organic and inorganic contaminants, while simultaneously creating electricity (or hydrocarbon fuel) for energy generation in support of a sustainable and portable system.

In-situ Electrochemical Generation of the Fenton Reagent for Wastewater Treatment
Luis Godinez, Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo Tecnologico en Electroquimica SC, Mexico, $50,000
Disinfection: Study the electro-Fenton approach using activated carbon to efficiently oxidize most of the organic and biological materials present in sanitary wastewater so that recycling of the wastewater might be possible.

powerPAD
Neus Sabate, Institut de Microelectrónica de Barcelona (CSIC); Juan Pablo Esquivel, University of Washington; Erik Kjeang, Simon Fraser University, $50,000
Monitoring and Measurement: Develop a non-toxic portable source of power for water measuring and monitoring systems, which will not require recycling facilities. Using inexpensive materials such as paper, nanoporous carbon electrodes and organic redox species, the team will strive to create a biodegradable and even compostable power source.

More than MERe microbes: Microbial Electrochemical Reactors for water reuse in Africa
Gemma Reguera, Michigan State University, $40,000
Chemical Conversion: Develop microbial electrochemical reactors that harvest energy from human waste substrates using bioanodes engineered to process the waste into biofuels while simultaneously cleaning water for reuse. The microbial catalysts will be selected for their efficiency at processing the wastes, but also for their versatility to process other residential and agricultural waste substrates. This will provide an affordable, easy to operate system for the decentralized processing of a wide range of wastes for improved sanitation, water reuse, and energy independence.

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Find openings in your area via the ECS job board.

ECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid-state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board:

Sr. Process Engineer
TriStaff Group – San Diego, California
As our Sr. Process Engineer, you will be responsible for the process development for advanced capacitive energy storage devices. This is a hands-on role, spending a significant amount of time in the lab doing work aimed at developing lab scale and pilot line processes for advanced electrodes and energy storage devices

Faculty Positions
Soochow University – Suzhou, China
Ten full professor or principal investigator (PI) and 20 associate professor positions are available at Institute of Energy of Soochow University. The Institute of Energy focuses on researches in areas related to science and technology of new energy.

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Brookhaven National Laboratory – Upton, New York
Essential duties and responsibilities include: development of lithium rechargeable cell technologies utilizing Sulfur based cathode materials, conduct basic research on multiple battery materials and electrochemical systems by utilizing various material and electrochemical characterization techniques, plan and execute research experiments in electrchemical call systems via material processing, study cell level component interactions, achieve mechanistic understanding and identify degradation mechanisms, and implement and create methods of diagnostic testing for battery characterization.

“Pee to Energy” demo at the Edison Theatre in the exhibit hall in Cancun, Mexico. Rob Gerth, Gerri Botte, and Madhi Muthuvel getting ready to go.

I’m working on an official review of what happened at the meeting. In the meantime, I’ve been looking at some of the photos which got me thinking about the adventure that is an ECS meeting.

A couple of quick hits first:

• All meeting attendees get Author Choice Open Access Article Credits!
• Some Cancun issues of ECS Transactions are now available, with the remaining issues coming in January 2015. All of the Orlando issues have now been published. You can get any of these issues now.
• Be sure to share your Cancun photos with everyone on Facebook and Twitter

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Find openings in your area via the ECS job board.

ECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid-state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board:

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Photoelectrochemical Materials
The University of Toledo – Toledo, Ohio
The Ohio’s Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization at The University of Toledo, Ohio invites applications for a postdoctoral fellowship opportunity. The postdoctoral position is expected to conduct research in synthesis and characterization of oxide materials for the application of photoelectrochemical hydrogen production via water splitting.

Postdoctoral Position-Layered Semiconductor Materials
Temple University – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A postdoctoral position is available in the Chemistry Department at Temple University. The position resides within the confines of a newly funded Department of Energy – Energy Frontier Research Center. The focus of the Center is the rational design of layered semiconductor materials for use in energy applications, such as water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction.

Chemistry Formulation Engineer (Electroplating)
Xtalic Corporation – Marlborough, Massachusetts
Xtalic Corporation, a dynamic, growing Boston-area company, develops commercial electrolytic processes that create new metal alloys based on nanotechnology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  We are seeking an energetic, results-oriented engineer to join our development team.

Membrane Technologist – Electrochemist for Fuel Cells
W.L. Gore – Elkton, Maryland
Gore is a technology-driven global company built on entrepreneurial innovation, integrity, and teamwork. Our diverse portfolio includes everything from high-performance fabrics and implantable medical devices to industrial manufacturing components and aerospace electronics. Through our product leadership, we’ve been changing lives and changing industries for more than 50 years.

Find openings in your area via the ECS job board.

ECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid-state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board:

Battery Scientist
Imprint Energy – Alameda, California
Imprint Energy is seeking an exceptionally talented, innovative, and versatile Battery Scientist to join our technical team and “make it work!” This person will join a small but growing team with momentum behind them. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to shape the development of Imprint Energy’s novel battery technology from early prototypes through to application development and mass deployment. The successful candidate will have a strong background in electrochemistry and battery research and development.

Director of Research
ZincNyx Energy Solutions, Inc. – Vancouver, BC, Canada
We are looking for the right candidate to fill our Director of Research position based out of our beautiful Vancouver, BC office. The position is permanent, full time and will skyrocket the right candidate’s career!

Postdoctoral Fellow in Electrocatalysis
Miami University – Oxford, Ohio
Postdoctoral Fellow to conduct laboratory research on electrocatalysis of facet-controlled Pt-group metal nanocrystals, interpret and analyze obtained results, draft manuscripts reporting experimental results, assist supervising graduate and undergraduate researchers in the group.

The battle to produce the most efficient and environmentally friendly car rages on, and now a new company is rising in the ranks by proposing we power our cars with salt water.

The Quant e-Sportlimousine made its debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show and showcased its innovative NanoFlowcell technology. This new technology sets itself apart from other systems in its ability to store and release electrical energy at very high densities – all with the help of salt water.

This from Intelligent Living:

The flow cell system powering the Quant e-Sportlimousine’s four electric motors develops electricity from the electrochemical reaction created by two electrolyte solutions. This electricity is forwarded to super capacitors where it’s stored and distributed.

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