Focus on: The ECS Canada Section

Some attendees and sponsors of the digital 2020 ECS Canada Section Fall meeting.

Some attendees and sponsors of the digital 2020 ECS Canada Section Fall meeting.

A network of electrochemical researchers in Canada who are members of The Electrochemical Society (ECS) came together to form the ECS Canada Section. They aim to support electrochemical researchers and students throughout the country, and host semi-annual symposia. An important form of support are the division awards: the Canada Section Electrochemical Award, R.C. Jacobsen Award, and W. Lash Miller Award.

Biannual symposia

Current Challenges and Recent Advances in Electrochemical Technologies for a Sustainable Society, the section’s highly successful Fall Symposium (December 12, 2020), was organized and hosted by Dr. Byron Gates (Simon Fraser University, Canada) and members of his research team: Audrey Taylor, Merissa Schneider-Coppolino, Alexi Pauls, Kelsey Duncan, Rana Faryad Ali, Sakshi Sharma, and Dr. Gurbinder Kaur.

Don’t miss Electrochemistry for a Sustainable and Healthier Future, the section’s Spring Symposium on May 15, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann, FRSC, Principal Investigator at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, along with presentations by Shelley Minteer from the University of Utah, U.S., and representatives from leading Canadian institutions,  Sanela Martic (Trent University), Maria de Rosa (Carleton University), David Herbert (University of Manitoba), Leanne Chen (University of Guelph), and Philippe Dauphin Ducharme (Université de Sherbrooke).

Fall symposium highlights

Dr. Henry S. White, Distinguished Professor and Widtsoe Presidential Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Utah, U.S., was the keynote speaker at the section’s December 2020 symposium. The White Group is an interdisciplinary team investigating systems spanning the physical, analytical, and biological sciences including nano-pore/pipette based sensing, measuring and delivery of nanoscale particles; protein ion channel electrical measurements of nucleic acids; theoretical and electrochemical scanned probe investigations of solid-state batteries; experimental measurements and theoretical analysis of ionic transport in confined geometries; and fundamental studies of electrochemically generated nanobubbles.

An international group of researchers delivered presentations on advances in the areas of electrocatalysis, electrodeposition and corrosion, battery materials, and the study of interfaces and interface phenomena. They included Dr. Linda Nazar (University of Waterloo, Canada), Dr. Sanela Martic (Trent University, Canada), Dr. Samira Siahrostami (University of Calgary, Canada), Dr. Pablo Sebastián Fernández (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil), and Dr. Karl J. J. Mayrhofer (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany). 

2020 division award winners

Dr. Aicheng Chen (University of Guelph, Canada) received the ECS Canada Division Jacobsen Award. He discussed the design of electrochemical sensors for applications in medical, food, and environmental applications at the Fall Symposium.

The 2020 ECS Canada Section Student Award was given to Keegan Adair of the University of Western Ontario for his work in the development of next-generation Li metal anodes using advance characterization techniques.

Student-led parallel sessions

More than twenty graduate student oral presentations were hosted in student-led parallel sessions. The 125 attendees interacted using break-out rooms that were available for networking with the invited speakers and sponsors, in small groups or one-on-one between participants.

The ECS Canada Section thanks their Fall Symposium sponsors: AVL Fuel Cell Canada, CMC Microsystems, Gamble Technologies, PAR-Solartron, Metrohm, NanoOne Materials Inc., and Systems for Research. 

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