Pennington, N.J. (June 26, 2017) – The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship Selection Committee has chosen three winners who will receive $50,000 fellowship awards each for projects in green energy technology. The awardees are Dr. Ahmet Kusoglu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Professor Julie Renner, Case Western Reserve University; and Professor Shuhui Sun, Institut National de la Rechersche Scientifique (INRS).

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, a partnership between The Electrochemical Society and Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor North America, is in its third year. A diverse applicant pool of young professors and scholars pursuing innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology responded to ECS’s request for proposals. 

“This fellowship gives the Society’s young investigators visibility and the freedom to explore uncharted areas,” says ECS Executive Director Roque Calvo. “Toyota’s continuing support is helping our scientists and engineers create a practical pathway to a renewable energy future.”

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship aims to encourage young professors and scholars to pursue research in green energy technology that may promote the development of next-generation vehicles capable of utilizing alternative fuels.

Electrochemical research has already informed the development and improvement of innovative batteries, electrocatalysts, photovoltaics and fuel cells. Through this fellowship, ECS and Toyota hope to see further innovative and unconventional technologies borne from electrochemical research.

“We are excited to add three energetic and creative scholars to the ECS-Toyota Fellowship family, including our first winners from Canada and from the West Coast,” says Fellowship Chair and Senior Manager of Toyota’s North American Research Strategy Office, Paul Fanson. “This year’s topics run the gambit, from ideas that may impact the current design of fuel cell membranes to materials and design strategies for next generation electrocatalysts and electrolyzers.  But, what all three winners have in common is their desire to make the world a better place through outside-the-box thinking, which is a mindset that they share with Toyota.”  

The selected fellows will receive restricted grants of a minimum of $50,000 to conduct the research outlined in their proposals within one year. They will also receive a one-year complimentary ECS membership as well as the opportunity to present and/or publish their research with ECS.
 
The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship is an annual program; the 2018-2019 request for proposals will be released in the fall of 2017.