January 2019 – July 2022
Robert Kostecki of the Energy Technologies Area was elected vice president of the International Society of Electrochemistry, an organization that advances electrochemical science and technology. Kostecki is deputy director of ETA’s Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division. https://www.ise-online.org/
Berkeley Lab was among five teams that completed DOE’s IMPEL program, which seeks to help scientists at national labs develop market-oriented skills for building technologies. The Lab team included ETA’s Robert Hart, Howdy Goudey, and Baptiste Ravache. Reshma Singh led the eight-month-long program. https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/impel-your-building-technology-idea
On May 20, Berkeley Lab physicist and Nobel Prize winner Saul Perlmutter received an honorary doctorate from the Universitat de Barcelona in Spain. His doctorate was sponsored by professor Pilar Ruiz Lapuente, who was a member of the Supernova Cosmology Project, which Perlmutter formerly led. https://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2019/05/023.html
Since 2012, the Sustainable Berkeley Lab team has collaborated with partners site-wide to reduce the Lab’s climate, waste, and water footprint. In the first of our Three Questions series, we asked Berkeley Lab Chief Sustainability Officer John Elliott for highlights. https://stratcomm-elements.lbl.gov/2019/05/20/three-questions-for-chief-sustainability-officer-john-elliott/
You’re invited to be part of the Retiree Honor Roll, which recognizes your years of service and lets current employees know you’re moving on. Cleaning up your office? Do it sustainably and ensure important docs are archived. You might also consider joining the Ex-Ls Lab retiree association.
ETA’s Akanksha Menon received the Sigma Xi dissertation award for her work on polymer-based thermoelectrics. The Sigma Xi society recognizes outstanding Ph.D. theses in science and engineering. Menon is an ITRI-Rosenfeld fellow working on materials and technologies for the water-energy nexus. https://sigmaxi.gatech.edu/georgia-tech-sigma-xi-research-awards/
Why is mercury is Ankita Kothari’s favorite element? Discovered in 1500 B.C., mercury was used to heal people, but is now a known deadly toxin. As part of her research, Ankita is exploring bacteria with a genetic resistance to mercury, which could help reduce mercury poisoning in fish and humans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI-Arr7EQWs
Rebecca Hartman-Baker of NERSC has received the Krell Institute’s Corones Award. The award recognizes mid-career scientists for their impact in leadership, community building, or science communications. The Krell Institute manages two of the nation’s top graduate fellowship programs for the DOE. https://www.krellinst.org/about-krell/corones-award
Shih, JBEI director of Plant Biosystems Design and UC Davis professor, was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in Computational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology. The fellowship will help his efforts to reconstruct the evolution of photosynthesis. https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/sloan-fellowship-will-help-new-faculty-patrick-shih-investigate-ancient-origins-photosynthesis
Erin Creel, a research affiliate at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, was selected as the 2019 graduate student recipient of the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Award for Civic Engagement. She was honored for teaching science to underserved populations and encouraging girls’ interest in STEM. https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/04/30/berkeley-celebrates-contributions-to-the-public-good-from-staff-students-and-faculty/