NCESR Announces Nomination Process for the Energy Center Ph.D. Fellowship Awards

Author Archives: Sue Wesely

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The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research (NCESR) is taking nominations for newly recruited graduate students for the Energy Center Ph.D. Fellowship awards. We are pleased to announce we will award up to three $5,000 fellowships to exceptional graduate students for the 2023 – 2024 academic year. This fellowship is made possible through an endowment in the University of Nebraska Foundation called the Tom and Nobuko Shiokari Energy Research Fund. The nomination deadline is April 15, 2023.

The purpose of this fellowship is to support recruitment of new graduate students accepted into a Ph.D. degree program of study, and add to their teaching or research assistantship, to conduct energy science research that is aligned with the Energy Center Mission & Vision.

To download the Instructions for information about the 2023 NCESR Ph.D. Fellowship requirements, click on the link below.

Please note the instructions and form have been revised as of 12/14/2022. The student’s transcript is no longer required.

Revised 12-14-22 NCESR-Fellowship Nomination Instructions

For a copy of the instructions and the Fellowship nomination form, click on the link below. It is a DocuSign form, so you will need to sign in with your UNL ID and password.

DocuSign NCESR Ph.D. Fellowship Instructions and Nomination Form

If you have any questions, please contact Sue Wesely at swesely4@unl.edu or Brenda Coufal at brenda.coufal@unl.edu.

Nebraska engineers, national labs partner on energy-related research

More than $1.4 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy will allow two University of Nebraska – Lincoln College of Engineering teams to expand innovative energy-related research in partnership with national laboratories.

Read the entire article posted in UNL’s Nebraska Today at https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/nebraska-engineers-national-labs-partner-on-energy-related-research/

Instrumentation Grant Awarded to Dr. Lucia Fernandez-Ballester

NCESR awarded an instrumentation grant in 2022 in addition to the annual two-year seed grants in energy sciences research.

The intent of this funding is for an innovative laboratory instrument(s) that will facilitate energy science research and be accessible to all faculty, researchers, and students at UNL. Fourteen proposals competed for this funding.

Dr. Lucia Fernandez-Ballester, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Materials Engineering was selected to receive the award. The title of her project is, Flash DSC acquisition for novel energy materials and thin films. The funding award is for 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2023.

2022 Workshop Educates Researchers about Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property

“I just wanted to thank NUtech and NCESR for hosting this Energy Center entrepreneurship Workshop,” Jiong Hu said. “As a researcher, we always want our research products to be applied and used, as it will benefit not just us at UNL, but also the entire society. However, we don’t always think from the entrepreneurial viewpoint, which often narrows the opportunities and limits the impact on the larger community. The workshop gave us a comprehensive view of how to better position ourselves to put our products on the market. It was also a great experience to pitch our research products in front of the guest panel with local entrepreneurs and funding organizations and receive constructive feedback from the experts. I look forward to opportunities that might present in the near future. Once again, thanks for all the efforts in organizing the workshop.”

Read the entire article posted in UNL’s Nebraska Today at https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/energy-center-hosts-workshop-to-help-bring-research-to-market/

Congratulations to Lorraine Moon on her Retirement AND Welcome Sue Wesely to the NCESR Team

Lorraine Moon, NCESR Office Associate retired on July 15, 2022 after working 47 years with UNL. NCESR thanked Lorraine for her many years of service and dedication to UNL and the Energy Center with a plaque and cards sent by many UNL colleagues and external partners.

Susan (Sue) Wesely started as the new NCESR Administrative Associate on September 30, 2022. In this role, Sue provides general office support to faculty, staff, and external partners of the NCESR. She assists with monitoring Energy Center funded projects, maintaining the website, recording project reporting information, tracking publications and citations related to Energy Center funding, and assisting with newsletters, meetings and events. Susan came to the Energy Center from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, where she was an Office Manager for several public health programs. Susan grew up on a farm in Saunders County. she has an Office Professional Associate’s degree from Southeast Community College in Lincoln. She is a proud parent of 4 children – Brieanna 22, Nathan 18, Tyler 18, and Wyatt 18 (triplet boys). In her spare time, she enjoys going for walks, working on mind puzzles, reading books, journal writing, and container gardening. She cherishes her family most of all.

NCESR releases RFP for Cycle 17 preproposals

The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research is seeking innovative energy sciences research and collaboration ideas from University of Nebraska faculty. The Request for Proposals was released March 21, 2022. This is the seventeenth annual cycle in which UNL faculty can compete in this internal competition for energy research grants These grants are considered seed funding to help UNL faculty develop energy-related research capacity and improve their competitiveness for external funding. In addition, the RFP has a special short term support program in hydrogen technology. This is a short cycle project lasting up to three (3) months. to support university researchers collaborating to develop the best concept of university support for a Nebraska Hydrogen Hub as described in the Federal Infrastructure Bill (H.R. 3684) – Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (Sec. 40314). The NCESR award will be made based on the preproposal document only, and with a limited maximum budget allowed of $30,000 due to the expected federal RFP during summer 2022. Funding for this opportunity is made possible through an investment in energy sciences research by the Nebraska Public Power District. Preproposals are due May 16, 2022 by 1:00 p.m. Full proposals will be by invitation. Applications for internal funding must be submitted via the Internal Competitions module in NuRamp (https://nuramp.nebraska.edu). Sign in to NuRamp using your institutional credentials. Click on IC Application. Then from the drop down, select Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research (NCESR) – Cycle 17 Preproposal Submission.

NCESR-Cycle-17-RFP

NCESR call for instrumentation proposals

The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research has released its Request for Instrumentation Proposals (RFP). NCESR has available $150,000 to be expensed toward the purchase of one or more pieces of equipment to support energy science research at UNL. Researchers are invited to submit proposals for any increment up to this amount; any costs above $150,000 are the responsibility of the proposal research team. NCESR seeks innovative laboratory instrumentation proposals that will facilitate energy science research. All areas of energy science research will be considered. Proposed instrumentation requests must show that the instrumentation obtained will be maintained and made accessible by all faculty, researchers and students at UNL. Proposals demonstrating a higher number of users and potential users will be scored higher in the evaluation process. Evaluation of the proposal will also include the extent to which the equipment is unique or can provide unique capabilities. Instrumentation here refers to either a single piece of equipment or a system comprised of multiple integrated components. Proposals are due April 29, 2022 by 5:00 p.m. CDT

Instrumentation-Grant-RFP-NCESR

Student Research Days were April 11 – 12

The Spring 2022 Student Research Days hosted over 291 graduate and undergraduate students on April 11-12 in the Nebraska Union. These students gathered to showcase their research and creative accomplishments by displaying posters. Three undergraduate students and nine graduate students presented their research related to NCESR sponsored projects. Roman Estrada from the Nebraska Public Power District attended the poster session and discussed the student’s research with them. To view the posters, click here .

Wini Waters participates in Slam

Winifred (Wini) Waters, a graduate student from the lab of Dr. Alexander Sinitskii in the Department of Chemistry and a researcher on an Energy Center project, participated in the inaugural Student Research Days Slam. This event, sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development in partnership with Graduate Studies, was held on April 13, 2022 in the Walter Wick Alumni Center. Five finalists were chosen to present at the Slam. Each Slam participant gave an 8-minute talk on the topic of “What skill or ability have you developed through your research experience or creative activity that you think would make the world better if everyone had it?” Congratulations to Wini for giving an excellent presentation. She received $100 for being a finalist in the competition. First place received $500.

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Energy Center student researchers win !

Anne Stratman, a graduate student working with Dr. Wei Qiao in Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented a poster entitled “Bidding Wind and Solar as Reserve Products in U.S. Electricity Markets” at the 2022 Student Research Days poster session on April 11. Anne’s poster was selected as an honorable mention engineering graduate student poster by the College of Engineering poster evaluators. This award comes with a $500 prize. Anne Stratman poster

Sean Carr, a graduate student working with Nicole Buan in Biochemistry, also presented a poster at the 2022 Student Research Days. His poster “Optimizing Scale Production of Isoprene from Engineered Methanogens” was one of the winners during the Spring 2022 Student Research Days competition. Sean and Dr. Buan are working on an Energy Center project entitled “Optimization of biosoprene production from renewable and captured carbon feedstocks”. To view Sean’s poster, go to Sean Carr Poster Sean will receive a $400 award/travel grant to present his research at a regional or national conference or to support other research costs.

Maggie Ramsay, an undergraduate working with Dr. Alex Sinitskii in the Chemistry Department, received an Honors Program Award “Award for Most Significant Potential for Real-World Impact”. Maggie’s poster was entitled “Morphology Control of SnS Nanoplatelets Towards Application as a Two-Dimensional Chemoresponsive Gas Sensor” See Maggie Ramsay poster. Maggie will receive $250 award directly from her college.

Poster winners working with Dr. Xia Hong in the Physics and Astronomy Department were Qiuchen Wu (graduate student) and Alyssa Simpson (undergraduate student). The posters had the same title but different research. The title of the posters was “Ferroelectric Domain Studies of Free-Standing PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃ (PZT) Membranes”.

Qiuchen Wu received a $400 travel grant for his poster. To view Qiuchen’s poster, go to Qiuchen Wu poster.

Alyssa Simpson received $250 for her poster. To view Alyssa’s poster, go to Alyssa Simpson poster.

The competition involved over 40 faculty and postdoc reviewers who rated student presentations on the basis of their research scholarship and presentation skills.