ECS members Glenn Lee (center) and Akilah Miller (front right) discuss the effect of temperature on battery performance at the Explore Your Universe 2018 event at the UCLA campus.
When ECS President Yue Kuo and ECS Executive Director and CEO Christopher Jannuzzi found themselves in California for the International Battery Association 2019 (IBA 2019) Meeting in San Diego, they knew they had to make one more stop before their trip came to an end. They had heard of an ECS Student Chapter at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) known widely for their active membership, offering a hub for nearly 20 members to gather each week to present research, gather new ideas, and even start new collaborations among different research groups.
“We contacted Ryan Henry DeBlock, the UCLA chapter chair, to schedule the visit,” said Kuo.
“Many of the students participating in this chapter are doing research in batteries and come together to exchange what they’ve learned,” said Kuo of the visit.
Kuo also took the opportunity to inform the students of the many things ECS has to offer as well.
“Not everyone is aware of all the kind of support they can get from ECS,” said Kuo. “We offer ECS member benefits like member rates, countless programs tailored to students like student awards, and once they graduate they have other advantages like division and society awards.”
Kuo also noted that ECS offers members a number of opportunities to find career growth and receive award recognition.
ECS member Danielle Butts (blue shirt) demonstrates hand-drawn paper circuits using graphite pencils at the Explore Your Universe 2018 event at the UCLA campus.
“We host conferences and symposiums where students can meet famous members, build relationships, and network,” which is why he encourages students to submit abstracts and attend biannual meetings.
And, should students have trouble with travel costs, ECS has a solution for that, too.
“Students can apply to travel grants online,” said Kuo.
“I also emphasized Free the Science Week. ECS is currently the only major professional society doing this – working towards open access,” said Kuo, all of which left quite an impression on DeBlock and fellow chapter members.
“Our discussion with Chris and Yue about ECS was both illuminating and refreshing,” said DeBlock. “Their transparency was thoroughly appreciated. Perhaps most importantly, their goal of open access, free-to-publish, and high-quality research is a unique direction that we as students feel is strongly needed to create an atmosphere of equal opportunity in the scientific world.”
The Electrochemical Society’s third annual Free the Science Week will be held April 1-7, 2019, in which ECS will take down its paywalls to over 151,000 scientific articles and abstracts in the ECS Digital Library, offering the world a preview of what the Free the Science initiative is all about.
Kuo and Jannuzzi say they both hope visits like these continue to help students understand the resources available to them through ECS and encourages them to continue to participate with ECS throughout their careers.
If you’d like to join the UCLA Student Chapter, email battery-journal-club@googlegroups.com for more information.
