News Story

Electrochemical Society Student Chapter Wins Chapter Award

Members of the UMD student chapter of the Electrochemical Society. Left to right: Ankit Goyal, Ke-Ji Pan, Colin Gore (President), Greg Hitz (Webmaster), Will Gibbons (Vice President), Alex Kozen, Amy Marquardt, Ashley Lidie (Treasurer), Tom Hays, and Hannah Nilsson. The chapter currently has over 20 members.

The University of Maryland's student chapter of the Electrochemical Society (ECS) has received the organization's first Outstanding Student Chapter Award.

Despite its status as the ECS' newest student chapter, the group has offered or participated in a diverse range of activities since its inception, including hosting or co-sponsoring prominent speakers such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Donald R. Sadoway and U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen Production Technology Development Manager Eric Miller; discussing federal funding for innovative energy and fuel cell research at the 2013 Science, Engineering, and Technology Congressional Visits Day; touring Teledyne Energy Systems in Hunt Valley, Md.; and introducing middle school students to solar cell technology at a recent Adventure in Science program at the National Institute of Standards in Technology (NIST). In October 2012, six of the chapter's members presented their work at the 222^nd meeting of the ECS in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"For decades, the University of Maryland has fostered electrochemical science and engineering research, from first-principles modeling of interfaces to demonstrations of breakthrough batteries and fuel cells," says chapter president and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) graduate student Colin Gore. "I'm honored that we're being recognized for initiating an outlet to bring these researchers together outside of the laboratory and for vigorously furthering the ECS' mission through our activities."

Founded in October 2011, the chapter is advised by University of Maryland Energy Center director (UMERC) Professor Eric Wachsman (joint, MSE and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Enginering [ChBE]). In addition to Gore, the chapter's officers include graduate students William Gibbons (ChBE) and Ashley Lidie (MSE), who serve as its Vice-President, and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively. While most of the group's members come from ChBE and MSE, it also includes students from the Departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

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