Abruña

Hector Abruña, the E.M. Chamot Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and co-director of the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute, was chosen to present the 2010 S.C. Lind Lectures Oct. 28 and 29, an honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society of East Tennessee.

He is also the 2011 recipient of the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Electrochemistry Group. The medal recognizes his work in electrochemistry across fuel cells, scanning probe microscopy and molecular electronics.

The RSC awards the Faraday Medal annually "to an electrochemist working outside the United Kingdom in recognition of their outstanding original contributions and innovation in any field of electrochemistry." Abruña will accept the medal and deliver the plenary lecture at the annual Electrochemistry Section conference in September 2011 in Bath, England.

Abruña's research includes using standard electrochemical probes on chemical systems such as light-emitting devices, fuel cells and molecular electronics. His lab also uses other techniques including X-ray methods, scanned probe microscopies, nanoscale fabrication, low temperature conductance and a variety of spectroscopic techniques to study problems in electrochemistry.

In his Oct. 28 Lind lecture in Knoxville, Abruña examined the national and global energy landscape and how fuel cells and batteries may contribute to meeting the future national electrical energy needs.

His Oct. 29 lecture in Oak Ridge focused on the development of new materials for fuel cell applications and the direction of future research.