Group News

The group gathered at the Farnum house to celebrate our new grant from NSF and the arrival of our first postdoc – Dr. Soumen Saha.

Dr. Soumen Saha joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Saha received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology – Guwahati.

We are proud to announce the funding of our first NSF grant!! In collaboration with Ryan Comes (Assistant Prof. – Physics), we are now funded to study the electronic behavior of perovskite-spinel epitaxial films and their catalytic properties toward water oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions relevant to fuel cells. Thank you DMR-SSMC and EPSCoR!

The group celebrated the end of the Spring semester and the beginning of Summer with lunch at Little Italy Pizzeria. Here’s to a productive Summer of research!

Ramesh Kumar Kokal has joined the group on a Bhaskara Advanced Solar Energy (BASE) Internship supported by the Government of India and Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum. Ramesh is currently a 4th year graduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology in Hyderabad, India in the group of Prof. M. Deepa. He will join our group from April – September 2018 and work on photoelectrochemistry of quantum dot solar cells. Welcome Ramesh!

Alex and Byron participated as judges (along with 16 others from the department!) in the Greater East Alabama Science and Engineering Fair (GEARSEF). Proud to say that the overall Best of Fair awards (#1 and #2 out of >200 projects) were given to students from the Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Materials Science division.

We had a great time hosting prospective graduate students over the weekend. Thanks to the Southeastern Raptor Center for introducing them to Spirit, the Bald Eagle, who flies around the stadium before every football game. War Eagle!