Inorganic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Shane Ardo, UC Irvine

Inorganic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Shane Ardo, UC Irvine (Host: Matt Kanan)

About the Seminar

"Protonic solar cells by sensitization of passive ion-selective polymers with photoacid dyes"

Abstract

About the Speaker

Shane obtained a B.S. Degree in Mathematics, with a minor in Computer Programming, from Towson University and subsequently worked as a software engineer, community college instructor, and high school teacher prior to attending graduate school. Shane obtained an M.S. Degree in Nutrition from the University of Maryland, College Park followed by M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees in Photo-Physical Inorganic Chemistry from the Johns Hopkins University, where he worked for Prof. Jerry Meyer. He then worked for Prof. Nate Lewis as a DOE-EERE Postdoctoral Research Awardee at the California Institute of Technology until 2013. Since that time, Shane has been an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Chemistry and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. He leads the Ardo Group for Molecular-Level Engineering of Functional Materials, which designs, synthesizes, and characterizes molecule–materials hybrids and aims to understand and control reaction mechanisms at asymmetric interfaces with the goal of optimizing energy conversion for practical applications, including solar seawater desalination, solar fuels devices, photovoltaics, fuel cells, and batteries. In 2016, Shane was named one of five inaugural Moore Inventor Fellows. He is also a recipient of a DOE Early Career Research Award and a Beall Innovation Award, and was named a Sloan Research Fellow, a Cottrell Scholar, a Kavli Fellow, and a Scialog Fellow. Shane has given over 100 invited talks, including at the National Academy of Sciences Distinctive Voices Lecture Series, the 2017 Resnick Institute Young Investigators Symposium, and Apple’s Membrane R&D Division. His research group is also supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Chemical Catalysis Program, Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd., and collaborative projects funded by University of California MEXUS–CONACYT and Research Corporation for Science Advancement.