Over 2,395 people attended the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, May 24-28, 2015. This was ECS’s first return visit to Chicago since 2007. Participants could choose among 45 symposia and over 2,300 presentations.
Paul Kohl, ECS President
Plenary Session
ECS President Paul Kohl opened the meeting by providing an update on the new fellowship with Toyota Research Instituted of North America, and highlighting the Society’s continuing growth in the open access initiative. Attendees also got their first glimpse of the Official ECS Trading Card Series, with every person at the plenary receiving an Allen J. Bard trading card.
John A. Turner, Research Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The ECS Lecture
“Hydrogen from Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting – What’s it gonna’ take?” was the title of the ECS Lecture given by Dr. John A. Turner, Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He highlighted novel developments in solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies, challenges and opportunities facing the photoelectrochemical (PEC) community, and PEC solar water splitting systems that could lead to commercial devices. His discussion also focused on metal oxides, surface treatments, and tandem cells for PEC water splitting. Listen to Dr. Turner’s podcast to learn more about PEC water splitting and the future of the energy infrastructure.
Henry White, University of Utah and Allen J. Bard, University of Texas at Austin
Award Highlights
The first biennial Allen J. Bard Award was presented to Henry White. Dr. White is currently the Dean of the College of Science at the University of Utah. He is a world leader in the field of electrochemistry, performing pioneering research in energy storage and fundamental studies of reduction-oxidation reactions and electron-transfer reactions, and the structure of interfaces between metals and solutions.
The award—presented to Dr. White by Allen J. Bard himself—was established to recognize distinguished contributions to electrochemical science. It is named after the “father of modern electrochemistry,” Allen J. Bard, in recognition of his outstanding advancements of electrochemical science. Dr. White presented his talk entitled, “The Electrochemical Nucleation and Physical Behavior of Hydrogen Nanobubbles” at the meeting.
PS: The designer of the award was present at the meeting. Take a look at her novel design rooted in electrochemistry.
Paul Kohl, ECS President and Yue Kuo, Texas A&M University
The Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology was presented to Yue Kuo. Dr. Kuo’s work in solid state science and technology has yielded many innovations and has had an immense impact in the scientific community. He is currently the holder of the Dow Professorship at Texas A&M University of Chemical Engineering, where his research focuses on the interdisciplinary nano and microelectronics area.
The award was established in 1971 to recognize distinguished contributions to the field of solid state science. Dr. Kuo presented his address entitled, “Research on Nano and Giga Electronics – Breakthroughs Along the Path” at the meeting.
ECS has an Institutional Membership program that began almost 70 years ago. This year’s Leadership Circle Awards went to:
- Legacy Level – Energizer Batteries (70 years of support)
- Bronze Level – Los Alamos National Laboratory (7 years of support)
- Bronze Level – Toyota (7 years of support)
There were 12 Division and Section awards:
- Electronics and Photonics Division Award was presented to Cammy R. Abernathy of the University of Florida.
- Energy Technology Division Research Award was presented to Rodney Borup of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Young Investigator Award was presented to William Mustain of the University of Connecticut.
- Energy Technology Division Graduate Student Award was presented to Haegyeom Kim of Seoul National University.
- Energy Technology Division Graduate Student Award was presented to Scott Cushing of West Virginia University.
- Industrial Electrochemistry & Electrochemical Engineering Division New Electrochemical Technology (NET) Award was accepted by Proton OnSite’s Katherine E. Ayers.
- Industrial Electrochemistry & Electrochemical Engineering Division Student Achievement Award was accepted on behalf of Ohio University’s Mohammad Mahdi Hasani-Sadrabadi.
- Industrial Electrochemistry & Electrochemical Engineering Division H. H. Dow Memorial Student Achievement Award was presented to Santosh Vijapur of Ohio University.
- Nanocarbons Division Richard E. Smalley Research Award was presented to Dirk M. Guldi of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Be sure to catch Dirk and the rest of the Nanocarbons Division Chairs on the ECS podcast!
- Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division David C. Grahame Award was presented to Hubert A. Gasteiger of Technische Universitat Munchen.
- Dielectric Science & Technology Division Thomas D. Callinan Award was presented to Kalpathy B. Sundaram of the University of Central Florida.
- Europe Section Alessandro Volta Medal was presented to Philip N. Bartlett of the University of Southampton.
The ECS Service Award went to Martin Winter for his service as the Technical Editor and Associate Editor for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, as well as his role as Technical Editor for ECS Electrochemistry Letters.
Matthew Lawder, top overall finisher and Elizabeth Jones, top female finisher
Free the Science 5K
The overall winner for the Free the Science 5K was Matthew Lawder, defending his title with a time of 16:45. This is Lawder’s third straight overall Free the Science 5K win and he hopes to defend his title at the upcoming Phoenix meeting. The top finisher in the women’s category was Elizabeth Jones, with a time of 22:06. Proceeds from the event benefit the ECS Publications Endowment.
Gene Nolis, graduate student in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, posing with Tesla and Edison outside the Edison Theatre
Edison Theatre
ECS’s Edison Theatre hosted a variety of live demonstrations and presentations ranging from nanowires to publications. Mike Zach demonstrated his NanoFab Lab… in a Box, which provides high school students with the ability to cheaply produce and understand complex patterned nanowires. Ohio University displayed urea electrolysis, otherwise known as Pee to Power. Other demonstrations included Pine Research Instrumentation and Metrohm USA’s workshop previews, as well as the ECS Author Information Session.
Student Poster Contest
The student poster session awards were handed out by ECS President, Paul Kohl. The winners were:
First Place: Electrochemical Science and Technology, Jonathan Kucharyson (University of Michigan)
Second Place: Electrochemical Science and Technology, Maria Lukatskaya (Drexel University)
First Place: Solid State Science and Technology, Heather Barkholtz (Northern Illinois University)
Second Place: Solid State Science and Technology, Rajankumar Patel (Missouri University of Science & Technology)
Students from the University of Iowa and University of Utah at the Student Mixer
Student Mixer
Monday night’s student mixer was attended by 150 students.
Exhibitors
Special thanks goes to all of the meeting sponsors and exhibitors, who showcased the tools and equipment so critical to scientific research.
