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June 7: Colonnade at the Zoo June 4: National Volunteer Council Meeting Jun 18: New York Regional Alumni Event |
Colonnade Society members and guest of the College of Chemical and Life Sciences are invited to embark on a zoo scavenger hunt featuring encounters with wildlife and Maryland faculty partnering with the Smithsonian Institution to help protect endangered species. |
 Creating Innovations to Change the WorldWorking to Discover Alternative Energy Solutions
The John Hendricks Energy Research Fellows program was established last fall as part of a $450,000 gift from the John and Maureen Hendricks Charitable Foundation to the University of Maryland Energy Research Center, or UMERC, which promotes collaborative energy research across the university. “We want to advance the university’s strategic initiative of taking on big issues, and education and research to develop clean, affordable and renewable energy is certainly high on that list,” says John Hendricks, chairman and founder of Discovery Communications and a member of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees. Each John Hendricks Energy Research Fellow receives a $40,000 annual stipend and up to $10,000 to cover tuition, travel and other miscellaneous expenses. “Fellowships allow graduate students the freedom to concentrate on their own ideas—they are not restricted by the contractual obligations of a particular lab dedicated to a specific research grant,” says Greg Jackson, associate professor of mechanical engineering and interim director of UMERC. “Just as important, these fellowships allow us to attract the very best in graduate students, which we believe brings about the very best in research.”
Fisher’s research is focused on polymer electrolytes, using a combination of ionic liquids and polymers to develop new energy storage systems that are smaller, more flexible and do not release dangerous vapors, making them much safer than lithium-based batteries that currently power most laptops or cell phones. He sees many uses for these smaller, safer power sources, including new cell phone designs that are not defined by an unwieldy, rectangular-shaped battery storage area. Other uses might involve improving endoscopy “pills” that are swallowed and transmit images as they pass through a patient’s gastrointestinal tract. Fisher believes his power source design would allow for a smaller protective cover for the device. Fisher, working in the Functional Macromolecular Laboratory with bioengineering Professor Peter Kofinas, plans to use his travel stipend to attend an international conference in Australia on ionic liquids. “When I finish my Ph.D. program, I want to be among the most knowledgeable people on polymer electrolytes in the world,” he says. For Banerjee, the fellowship program will allow him the freedom to pursue his own research. For the past two years, he has played a key role in the Clark School’s Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing, working with his adviser, Professor Gary Rubloff, and other Maryland faculty to develop small, nanowire structures that are the basis for highly efficient energy storage systems. Banerjee wants to use that research as a starting point for developing cost-effective, yet very efficient, solar panels that not only store energy, but also generate it. “I want to use the knowledge and experience I have from my six years in the industry—along with the two years working with my excellent research colleagues at Maryland—to try something that I am convinced 100 percent can make a difference,” he says. Learn how you can make your mark on Maryland by supporting the Clark School of Engineering.  | ||||||||
