Oregon

Green Power at the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry

Published

2 years ago

October 4, 2022

Green Power at the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry

On the Oregon Heart for Electrochemistry, College of Oregon college students and school members analysis how vitality is generated, saved, and transported. They usually’re main the way in which for sustainable vitality.

Lean, inexperienced, and progressive, the OCE additionally prepares college students for fulfillment in a subject that’s in excessive demand for {industry}. Finally, these UO school members, college students, and alumni are serving to handle local weather change.

Because of a $5 million present from Gordon and Betty Moore, the way forward for the OCE—which began in 2019—is wanting vivid. Gordon Moore is cofounder of Intel Company, an organization additionally identified for innovation-creating, world-changing know-how.

“We’re very grateful to the Moores for this beneficiant present,” says Patrick Phillips, interim president of the college. “The OCE’s collaborative, forward-thinking work displays the shared function and group of our college and capitalizes on our strengths to fill a crucial nationwide want.

“These school members are main the way in which for sustainable vitality, by means of their analysis and by empowering college students to begin careers aimed toward making an actual distinction on the earth. Because of the Moores’ present, we proceed to construct school power on this space and broaden the UO’s influence by means of efforts akin to our Setting Initiative.”

Power is central to all the pieces we do, says Shannon Boettcher, an alumnus and professor within the Division of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the OCE’s founding director. “Electrochemistry is the important thing to growing a sustainable economic system, lowering carbon in our environment, and mitigating local weather change.

“Gordon Moore is definitely certainly one of my heroes, and we hope to make Gordon and Betty happy with this funding. It amplifies all the pieces and permits us to suppose greater.”

Considering greater, says Boettcher, means attacking the most-important science issues, translating discoveries into patents, startups, and industrial merchandise. It means increasing {industry} connections and launching extra pupil careers. Finally, Boettcher hopes, it would all add as much as widespread change—in our economic system, {industry}, coverage, and know-how—that stops local weather change in its tracks.

Electrochemistry researchers research the relationships between chemical change and electrical energy. If a chemical response creates electrical energy, or vice versa, that’s electrochemistry. Electrochemists discover find out how to make higher batteries (and reuse and recycle them). They research units that convert electrical vitality into inexperienced hydrogen that would gas vehicles, ships, and planes—and produce sustainable chemical substances, merchandise, and fertilizers.

They search methods to create higher, lower-cost catalysts, gas cells, and medical and environmental sensors. Electrochemists use electrical energy to deposit metals on constructions as giant as bridges and as small because the near-atom-scale wires inside laptop chips. They devise methods to cease corrosion, recycle metals, and clear water. But superior coaching in electrochemical science and know-how is sorely missing, says Boettcher, as a result of it doesn’t match neatly right into a single conventional disciple.

He and his colleagues are making the UO a world useful resource and chief on this subject. Primarily based on the rising fame of the OCE and the success of graduates, they’re off to an important begin.

FINDING SOLUTIONS

Wind, photo voltaic, and wave vitality is intermittent and tough to retailer and transport. Different fuels like hydrogen aren’t a lot of another if they’re produced from coal and pure gasoline. And plenty of present industrial processes, which account for roughly one-third of US vitality consumption, are tough to transform to run on renewable vitality.

In OCE’s laboratories within the spacious, daylit prime ground of the Lewis Integrative Science Constructing, college students and school members seek for options that may make inexperienced renewable vitality work—and assist industries function extra sustainably.

They discover gas cells, carbon-dioxide seize know-how, and hydrogen manufacturing. They assist corporations develop batteries manufactured in greener methods. They usually work to make present know-how higher, cheaper, and extra environment friendly—for instance, researching higher strategies for producing metal and chlorine.

The Nationwide Science Basis not too long ago awarded the OCE with funding for its Heart for Interfacial Ionics, they usually’re exploring how ions switch into solids—a basic motion for batteries. The researchers are additionally utilizing bipolar membranes to separate water into acid (protons) and base (hydroxide). These can be utilized to seize carbon from the environment, deacidify the ocean, and create extra environment friendly industrial electrochemical processes.

For an additional mission, they use daylight to drive photochemistry, successfully combining a photo voltaic cell with an electrolyzer. The purpose: to develop a tool that generates inexperienced hydrogen utilizing solely water and daylight, at a low price—and a large scale.

OCE analysis entails school members on the UO and from all over the world, in addition to giant firms and small startups. College students play key roles, gaining skilled expertise whereas taking part in groundbreaking—and industry-changing—science.

“My analysis has a really clear societal influence that aligns with my ardour and my objectives,” says PhD candidate Grace Lindquist. “We now have electrolyzer corporations reaching out to us to advise them on know-how and assist them deliver merchandise to market.”

Lindquist research electrolyzers that break up water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Though industrial electrolysis is commercialized, it’s removed from good. Lindquist’s work helps corporations produce hydrogen in methods which can be extra environment friendly, economical, and sustainable.

Industries on the vanguard of the inexperienced revolution desperately want staff with basic science and engineering expertise {and professional} coaching, Boettcher says. The OCE ensures college students have each, a key technique for carrying out a purpose that’s easy however daring: develop into the perfect place on the earth to get educated on this essential space, serving to rework {industry}—and the world.

APPLYING ACADEMICS, LAUNCHING CAREERS

By way of conventional coursework and lab analysis, OCE college students put idea into follow. Grasp’s college students additionally acquire skilled expertise by means of paid internships. Typically, these develop into full-time jobs.

Serafina Fortiner (left) is working as a chemical engineer at Nel Hydrogen for her internship. The Connecticut firm builds electrolyzer stacks that use water to supply hydrogen, a course of she studied in Boettcher’s lab. She’s engaged on electrolysis powered by renewable vitality with no carbon dioxide emissions—creating inexperienced hydrogen.

“I really feel like I’m making a distinction,” Fortiner says. “That is serving to pace up the transition to scrub vitality and resolve the local weather disaster.”

Redwood Supplies, in Nevada, isn’t solely the nation’s greatest lithium-ion battery recycling operation, however the one firm in North America that’s scaling up a course of to Antowan Datvians present crucial battery supplies permitting American corporations to make lithium batteries domestically. Antowan Davtians (proper) works with the copper foil group, processing recycled copper from previous batteries to electroplate ultrathin anode-quality copper foils to be used within the North American electrical automobile battery manufacturing {industry}.

Battery recycling affords promise for conserving uncommon supplies, Davtians says, whereas lowering each the quantity of uncooked supplies extracted from the earth and the variety of batteries that find yourself in landfills.

“The last word mission is to have zero waste and shut the loop on restricted uncooked supplies akin to lithium, nickel, and metals turning into extra valuable as the electrical automobile world begins ramping up,” Davtians says.

Like most OCE alumni, Mauricio Paz, MS ’21 (chemistry), parlayed his internship right into a profession. As a supplies engineer at Kind Power, an vitality storage methods firm in Massachusetts, he works on iron-air batteries for large-scale grid purposes—massive batteries that would energy a metropolis for 100 hours.

These batteries allow renewable vitality by offering electrical energy when the solar isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. The corporate additionally works to fabricate batteries from plentiful supplies available all through the world, like air and iron.

“I couldn’t be happier with the UO program,” Paz says. “Electrochemistry is my ardour. Corporations like Kind Power admire a sturdy background in electrochemistry, and the coaching I acquired on the UO put me one step forward.”

VENTURE PHILANTHROPY

The Moores’ present is like an funding in a startup, Boettcher says. However relatively than a enterprise, they’ve supplied seed funding for a middle of discovery, studying, and innovation led by a collaborative group of school members.

In some ways, the OCE additionally displays Intel’s salad days. Each began on a shoestring price range with bold aspirations. And in each instances, the groups that began them defied conference to create a greater means.

“As a startup, we have to be intelligent and cost-efficient,” says Boettcher, who joined forces with UO and Oregon State College colleagues to begin the OCE. “We’ve been good about development and leveraged our integration of educating, innovation, and analysis. We spend cash dreaming up new concepts and implementing them, not on administration.”

Boettcher grew up in Creswell, a small city close to Eugene the place he spent summers working development and baling hay. Whereas his mom earned her PhD in biochemistry on the UO, his father ran a pc restore enterprise out of their nation dwelling.

This mix of know-how, chemistry, and hands-on work fashioned a stable basis for Boettcher’s future educating and analysis. He studied chemistry and physics on the UO, graduated in 2003 as a member of the Clark Honors Faculty, then attended graduate faculty at UC Santa Barbara.

Gordon Moore additionally grew up in a small city: Pescadero, California (even smaller than Creswell), the place his father was the county sheriff. He turned fascinated by science at an early age, conducting chemistry experiments within the household storage.

Moore studied chemistry at San Jose State, transferred to UC Berkeley, then earned his PhD on the California Institute of Know-how, the place Boettcher later had a stint as a postdoctoral researcher.

Along with serving to launch the world’s largest semiconductor firm in income, Moore additionally created the famed know-how tenet that bears his title. Moore’s Regulation addresses the exponential improve of transistors in a pc chip over time.

Intel launched the primary industrial microprocessor and created a silicon basis for the non-public laptop revolution. Intel additionally remodeled how folks did enterprise. Egalitarian, productive, and obsessive about efficiency, the corporate’s founders embraced meritocracy and eschewed the wasteful govt perks and vertical group charts of Sixties company tradition. Boettcher and his colleagues have created an ecosystem of innovation that in some methods resembles a high-tech startup: environment friendly, collaborative, and laser-focused on outcomes. The Moores’ versatile present will probably be used for school hires, pupil scholarships, shared devices, and new tasks.

“This seed capital could have long-term influence as a result of we are able to make investments it in ways in which generate further sources, returns for {industry} and society, and graduates who go on to work for progressive corporations,” says Boettcher.

“Individuals gained’t hand over vitality, so we want new methods to generate, retailer, and distribute it. And we are able to’t wait. Making different vitality work is the one approach to resolve local weather change with out crashing civilization.”

—By Ed Dorsch, BA ’94 (English, sociology), MA ’99 (journalism), employees author for College Communications

—Pictures by Chris Larsen, College Communications

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Oregon

Arizona State Lands Transfer Portal Lineman My’Keil Gardner From Oregon Ducks

Published

34 minutes ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Arizona State Lands Transfer Portal Lineman My’Keil Gardner From Oregon Ducks

Another Oregon Ducks transfer has found a new home in the portal as the 2024 college football season comes closer to an end.

Per reports from On3’s Pete Nakos, the Arizona State Sun Devils have landed a commitment and ensuing signature from Oregon defensive lineman transfer My’Keil Gardner. He entered the portal on Thursday and will have four years of eligibility left.

Gardner posted one total tackle in three games last year as a freshman but did not record a statistic with the Ducks in 2024 after sitting the entire campaign due to an undisclosed injury.

Nov 18, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Oregon Ducks defensive lineman My’Keil Gardner (93) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

MORE: Can Oregon Ducks Win National Championship in 2026? Schedule Analysis, Prediction

MORE: Nick Saban Upset With Oregon Ducks’ College Football Playoff Path vs. Ohio State

MORE: Former Oregon Ducks Receiver Ryan Pellum Arrested for ‘Pistol-Whipping’ Assault

Originally a three-star recruit in the 2023 class out of Liberty High School in Peoria, AZ, Gardner received offers from programs like Texas, USC, Washington State, UCLA, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado State, Arizona State, Colorado, Iowa State, Nebraska and many more.

He took official visits to Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Cal and Oregon before committing to the Ducks on Aug. 3, 2022.

Gardner is now the seventh Oregon transfer to commit out of the portal since it opened last month. He joins safety Tyler Turner (Baylor), quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele (Cal), cornerback Khamari Terrell (Texas State), offensive tackle JacQawn McRoy (Arkansas), edge rushers Jaxson Jones (Utah), Emar’rion Winston (Baylor) and Jaeden Moore (Pitt) and receiver Ryan Pellum (undecided) as Oregon players that have entered the portal this offseason.

Despite the departures, the Ducks have also made some portal additions in running back Makhi Hughes (Tulane), receiver Malik Benson (Florida State), offensive tackle Isaiah World (Nevada), defensive lineman Bear Alexander (USC), cornerback Theran Johnson (Northwestern), safety Dillon Thieneman (Purdue), offensive lineman Alex Harkey (Texas State) and tight end Jamari Johnson (Louisville).

Jan 1, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Oregon Ducks defensive lineman My’Keil Gardner (93) against the Liberty Flames during the 2024 Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Gardner will now head to Tempe, where the Sun Devils are coming off one of the best seasons in program history. Under head coach Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State finished the year with an 11-3 record that was highlighted by winning a Big 12 Championship and earning a berth in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. However, the Sun Devils’ season ended in heartbreak with a 39-31 double-overtime loss to the Texas Longhorns in the CFP quarterfinals at the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning talked about the talent out of the state of Arizona before the Ducks played in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, a game Gardner saw action in. Now, he’s headed back to his home state.

“There’s great football here in Arizona and I think it’s only getting better. There are certainly some great players who play here in Arizona. We want to be able to come to the state of Arizona and get the best players consistently. Having games like this gives us that opportunity,” Lanning said.

MORE: Why Oregon Ducks 5-Star Quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele Entering Transfer Portal

MORE: Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning Takes Blame For Loss To Ohio State Buckeyes

MORE: Five-Star Recruit Elbert Hill Visiting Oregon Ducks, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan

MORE: Oregon Ducks’ Tez Johnson Declares For NFL Draft: Thanks Biological, Adopted Family

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Oregon

Here are Oregon’s fastest-growing jobs and what they pay

Published

12 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Here are Oregon’s fastest-growing jobs and what they pay

State economists expect Oregon will add 170,000 jobs over the next several years, bolstered by strong growth in the construction and health care industries.

The pace of job growth is slowing, though, as the state’s population ages, the post-pandemic labor boom recedes and as migration into Oregon settles into a slower pace. The Oregon Employment Department’s latest forecast anticipates just 8% more jobs during the coming decade, down from prior 10-year forecasts that predicted employment would grow by as much as 13%.

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Oregon

Oregon State, Jade Carey open home gymnastics schedule with dominant performance: Photos

Published

22 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Oregon State, Jade Carey open home gymnastics schedule with dominant performance: Photos

No. 9 Oregon State put on a show in its first 2025 home gymnastics meet Saturday, scoring 196.40 points to easily beat Brigham Young at Gill Coliseum.

Senior Jade Carey, performing in a home meet for the first time since winning two Olympic gold medals last summer, scored 39.725 in all-around. Carey had scores of 9.95 on bars and floor, 9.925 on beam and 9.90 on vault.

Carey had the highest score in each event on either team. The best scores by a Beaver gymnast aside from Carey were 9.85s by Natalie Briones (bars), Sage Thompson (bars), Lauren Letzsch (beam), Savannah Miller (floor) and Sophia Esposito (floor and beam).

Brigham Young scored 194.2 points. Kylie Eaquinto led the way with an all-around score of 39.050.

— Nick Daschel covers the Oregon State Beavers. Reach him at 360-607-4824 or @nickdaschel. Listen to the Beaver Banter podcast or subscribe to the Beavers Roundup newsletter.

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