Tag Archives: Ginger

Clean Energy Institute Launches

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CleanEnergyInstKickoff_sqA new University of Washington institute to develop efficient, cost-effective solar power and better energy storage systems launched December 12 with an event attended by UW President Michael K. Young, Gov. Jay Inslee and researchers, industry experts and policy leaders in renewable energy.

The Clean Energy Institute formed when Washington’s governor and state legislators last summer allocated $6 million to create a research center at the university that will advance solar energy and electrical energy storage capacities. The institute will better connect and boost existing energy research at the UW as well as attract new partnerships and talent, including new faculty members.

The opening of the Clean Energy Institute was covered by KIRO 7 News, the Seattle Times, and UW News. Chemistry Professor David Ginger, Raymon E. and Rosellen M. Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry, is the Associate Director of the Clean Energy Institute.  Daniel Gamelin, Harry and Catherine Jaynne Boand Endowed Professor of Chemistry, serves on the Faculty Advisory Board.

New research published in Nature explores organic solar cells

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A vial holds a solution that contains the UW-developed polymer “ink” that can be printed to make solar cells.

A vial holds a solution that contains the UW-developed polymer “ink” that can be printed to make solar cells.

David Ginger, Professor and Raymon E. and Rosellen M. Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry, and Alex Jen, Boeing/Johnson Chair Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, along with other researchers, have recently reported on the role of electron spin in creating efficient organic solar cells. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

Organic solar cells that convert light to electricity using carbon-based molecules have shown promise as a versatile energy source but have not been able to match the efficiency of their silicon-based counterparts. These researchers have discovered a synthetic, high-performance polymer that behaves differently from other tested materials and could make inexpensive, highly efficient organic solar panels a reality. The polymer, created at the University of Washington and tested at the University of Cambridge in England, appears to improve efficiency by wringing electrical current from pathways that, in other materials, cause a loss of electrical charge.

More information can be found at Nature and in the UW News press release.

To learn more about Professor Ginger and Professor Jen, please visit their research group websites.

Ginger Research Group: http://depts.washington.edu/gingerlb/

Jen Research Group: http://depts.washington.edu/jengroup/

Four Faculty Members Elected Fellows of AAAS

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Four faculty members from the Department of Chemistry were among the 701 newly elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a Fellow of the AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members of the organization by their peers. The newly elected AAAS Fellows will be recognized for their contributions to science and technology at the Fellows Forum on February 16, 2013 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Eleven University of Washington researchers were among the 701 AAAS Fellows elected in 2012, including the following four from the Department of Chemistry:

David S. Ginger, Professor and Raymon E. and Rosellen M. Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry

D. Michael Heinekey, Professor of Chemistry

Sarah L. Keller, Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean for Research Activities

František Tureček, Professor of Chemistry

For additional coverage of the UW researchers receiving this honor, please see the UW News article.

David Ginger wins 2012 Microscopy Society of America Burton Award

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Professor David Ginger, the Raymon E. and Rosellen M. Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry, has been awarded the Microscopy Society of America Burton Medal for 2012. This Medal is presented annually to an outstanding young scientist under the age of 40 for exceptional achievement in microscopy and microanalysis. Presented annually since 1975, this Award honors the memory of Professor Eli Burton of the University of Toronto who, with his students Hillier and Probus, designed and built one of the earliest electron microscopes in 1938. The award will be presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of MSA in Phoenix, Arizona on July 30, 2012.

To learn more about Professor Ginger and his research, please visit his faculty web page and his research group site.

UW documentary features four Chemistry faculty

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Professors Michael Gelb, David Ginger, Alvin Kwiram, and Pradip Rathod of the Department of Chemistry are among the notable University of Washington scientists highlighted in a new documentary released this month. “Timeless Discoveries,” a documentary made possible by the generosity of the Leonard P. & Helen M. Kammeyer Endowed Fund, highlights major breakthroughs, groundbreaking research, and practical applications revealed by the scientific community at the College of Arts & Sciences. The film, which will air on UWTV, follows professors and students as they discuss their challenges and discoveries ranging from the Hepatitis B vaccine to advances in solar energy.  The film was also featured in the Local News section of the Seattle Times.

To learn more about Professor Gelb and his research, please visit his faculty page and research group website.

To learn more about Professor Ginger and his research, please visit his faculty web page and his research group site.

To learn more about Emeritus Professor Kwiram and his research, please visit his faculty page.

To learn more about Professor Rathod and his research, visit his faculty web page.

David Ginger named Lawton Distinguished Scholar

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We are pleased to announce that Prof. David Ginger has been named the Raymon E. and Rosellen M. Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry. Research in the Ginger Lab focuses on the physical chemistry of nanostructured materials with potential applications in low cost photovoltaics (solar cells), energy efficient light-emitting diodes, and novel biosensors.

The Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry position is funded by an annual gift by Dr. Raymon Lawton, who graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry with Honors in 1946. He went on to earn his M.D. from the University of Oregon. He had a distinguished career in medicine in San Diego, CA. We are deeply honored to have Dr. Lawton as a friend of Chemistry.

To learn more about Prof. Ginger’s research, visit his faculty page and his research group page.

David Ginger promoted to Full Professor

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Prof. David GingerThe Department of Chemistry congratulates Associate Professor David Ginger on his promotion to the rank of Professor, effective September 16, 2010. David Ginger studies the physical chemistry of nanostructured materials with potential applications in low-cost photovoltaics (solar cells that convert sunlight directly to electricity), energy efficient light-emitting diodes, and novel biosensors.  His group studies conjugated polymers, semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots, and plasmon resonant metal nanoparticles using both scanning probe microscopy and optical spectroscopy.  His group is known for pioneering the development and application of scanning probe microscopy methods to understand how to improve nanostructured solar cells.  For instance, by using a sharp metal probe to collect current from very small regions of a solar cell they can determine which regions give the most photocurrent–and which don’t.  These experiments can be used to improve the manufacturing of thin film solar cells and to test basic theories of charge transport in disordered materials.

For more information about David Ginger and his research, please visit his faculty page and research group website.

David Ginger wins 2008 ACS Unilever Award

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Assistant Professor David Ginger has been announced as the recipient of the 2008 Unilever Award, granted by the Colloid and Surface Science Division of the American Chemical Society.

The award recognizes and encourages “fundamental work in colloid or surfactant science carried out in North America by researchers in the early stages of their careers.” The originality, creativity, and overall impact of a scientist’s research are the criteria used to select the award recipient. The award presentation will be held at the 82nd Colloid and Surface Science Symposium at North Carolina State University in Raleigh on June 15-18, 2008.

For more information about David Ginger and his research, please visit his faculty page or his research group website.

David Ginger receives Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award

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Assistant Professor David Ginger received a 2007 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. The Dreyfus Foundation was created with the mission to “advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering and related sciences as a means of improving human relations and circumstances,” and the organization has created several awards for academics in the chemical sciences.
The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award program supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty by providing discretionary funding to faculty who have created a significant body of independent scholarship and demonstrated a commitment to education in their first five years as faculty, signaling the promise of continuing outstanding contributions in both areas. The program provides funding to award recipients through an unrestricted research grant of $75,000 over five years.

Ginger received his Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for his research project, “Probing Optoelectronic Processes in Nanostructured Organic Solar Cells.”

For information about David Ginger and his research, please visit his faculty page or his research group website.