Editor's Note: In Celebration

Fireworks. Camping. Concerts in the park. July is about celebrating things that matter: family, friends, and the freedom to do a job well. In this issue, we celebrate the outstanding work done at the Energy Frontier Research Centers in the last 5 years. Scientists at the different centers have joined forces to tackle the Grand Challenges of our energy future. While creating teams is easy on paper, the reality of turning strangers into colleagues, and in some cases friends, requires patience, persistence, and hard work. Learn more about what it took and why having younger people on your team is critical.

Summer can also be a time for finding the better route, the faster, simpler way to do something. Across the country, EFRC scientists are finding better ways to answer key questions. In Maryland, researchers devised a way to measure damaging and potentially dangerous swelling in batteries. In Texas, scientists designed a new approach that simplifies creating nano-sized rods needed for materials that could greatly improve batteries and solar cells. In California, scientists built devices that take in light across the spectrum, potentially making solar cells more efficient.

While research can present a host of challenges, explaining it also provides hurdles to overcome. Early career scientists, with the leadership and encouragement of those who have been in the field for decades, are finding new ways to talk about science, changing the perception of science from isolation to inclusion.

And, you can read about a few people here who have gone above and beyond, and are thus celebrating with major awards. As we celebrate the work and the people, we can’t help but look forward to the outstanding results from the new centers that have joined our ranks.

Happy reading!

Kristin Manke,
Editor-in-Chief
 

Editorial Board

• Marina Faiella, Center for Bio-Inspired Solar Fuel Production
• James Gallagher, Institute for Atom-Efficient Chemical Transformations
• Laila Jaber-Ansari, Center for Electrical Energy Storage
• Nitin Kuman, Center for Atomic-Level Catalyst Design
• Jimmy O’Dea, Energy Materials Center at Cornell
• Kjell Schroder, EFRC:CST for Understanding Charge Separation and Transfer at Interfaces in Energy Materials
• Ryan Stolley, Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis

Guest Writers

• Brian Doyle, HeteroFoaM Center
• Ralph House, Center for Solar Fuels
• Tyler Josephson, Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation