“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/

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.

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 .

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.

Eight undergraduate students were selected as recipients of the Darrell J. Nelson Summer Undergraduate Internship in Energy Sciences Research for the Summer of 2022. The eight recipients and their supervising faculty members are Matthew Dohmen (Eric Markvicka, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering); Bryce Herrington (Robert Streubel, Department of Physics and Astronomy); Laura Kirshenbaum (Nicole Buan, Department of Biochemistry); Aidan Larsen (Siamak Nejati, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering); Camden Olds (Xiaoshan Xu, Department of Physics and Astronomy); Jackson Taylor (George Gogos, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering); Samantha White (Cody Stolle, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Midwest Roadside Safety); and Ruthi Zielinski (Robert Streubel, Department of physics and Astronomy). The internship is named after Mr. Darrell J. Nelson, who served 41 years on the Custer County Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power (NPPD) Boards.  In 2005, Mr. Nelson proposed a partnership between NPPD and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for engaging in energy sciences research.  The following year, the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research (NCESR) was created with NPPD’s support.  At the end of the paid internship, each student will prepare a summary report that describes their experience and will prepare a poster to describe the accomplishments or results of their work experience in energy sciences research.

Eight new research projects were selected for funding by the Energy Center in its sixteenth annual grant competition.  The faculty selected for the awards were Professors Wei Bao, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Bai Cui, Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Jun Wang, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Xia Hong, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Yiqi Yang, Department of Textiles, Merchandising, & Fashion Design, Hamid Sharif, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Wei Qiao, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Matthias Fuchs, Department of Physics & Astronomy. To learn more go to 2022/2023 Energy Research Grants (Cycle 16)