Interface – 2018 Spring 

Link: http://interface.ecsdl.org/content/27/1/77.full.pdf+html

by Evan Jahrman

Coffee, Seattle, and Electrochemistry 

For the past two summers (2016-17), the ECS at the University of Washington (ECS@UW) student chapter has hosted a “Coffee & Electrochemistry” book series for students and faculty members to get together and learn electrochemistry. Each week, the members met in the library for coffee, and a student-led discussion focused on chapters in Prof. Newman and Dr. Thomas-Alyea’s “Electrochemical Systems.” Coming together to discuss a range of important electrochemical engineering topics – from thermodynamics to electrode kinetics and mass transport – helped students (re)learn the electrochemical basics while also building the community across departments at the University of Washington.

In October (2017), the ECS@UW held the first voting elections since it was founded in 2015. With Jerry Chen taking over as Chair from Matt Murbach, the explosive growth and interest that propelled the chapter from zero members to one of the 2017 ECS Student Chapters of Excellence are sure to continue. The chapter plans to expand on the biweekly educational meetings, outreach to K-12 students, and professional development events that were held in the past year to grow our reach across campus and the Pacific Northwest region. In December (2017), the chapter will host a workshop on creating a personal website for building a professional online presence.

November (2017) marked the first “Coffee Talk” series with visiting faculty. Prof. Daniel Steingart from Princeton University met with over 20 students for questions and discussion that covered topics from his work with multiple startup companies to the future trends in electrochemistry. The December (2017) “Coffee Talk” will feature Prof. Elizabeth J. Biddinger from the City College of New York, whose exciting work applies green chemistry and sustainability to electrochemistry applications.

Figures

 

Figure 1. Jonathan Michael Witt (left) and Brian Gerwe (right) lead the “Coffee & Electrochemistry” book series in the Summer, 2017. (Credit: Matt Murbach)

 

Figure 2. Prof. Daniel Steingart from Princeton University shared his research and startup experience with ECS@UW students in “Coffee Talk” series, in the Fall, 2017. (Credit: Brian Gerwe)