Chris Jackson, a senior Chemistry major here at St. Edward’s and president of our American Chemical Society (ACS) Student Affiliate Chapter, has been selected as one of eight students from around the country to represent ACS as a student ambassador at the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 21st Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP21) in Paris. Chris will represent ACS as a credentialed Non-Governmental Organization participant (NGO). In preparation for COP21, Chris will have media training at ACS headquarters in Washington, DC followed by meetings on Capitol Hill with congressional staffers and federal agency representatives. He will give a presentation at the ACS Spring National Meeting in San Diego on his experience in Paris.
As a student of chemistry, all of Chris’s past research has ties to renewable energy and sustainability. Because of his commitment to alternative energy, Chris’ most formative experience was working on solar cells at SLAC/Stanford in Summer 2014. He conducted research on perovskite solar cells through the Department of Energy Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) National Laboratory. Despite being only a sophomore, he improved the method for printing conductive film in solar cells, which is still being used by the lab. Based on his work, which he’s presented at several regional and national conferences, he’s been encouraged to apply for a Ph.D. at Stanford.
This past summer, Chris researched aerogels as catalyst supports for carbon dioxide reduction at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. His research supervisors report high levels of diligence, and unusually creative approaches to intractable problems, particularly for someone with no training in engineering. At St. Edward’s, his current research focuses on water and ion transport through bent carbon nanotubes, which has applications in fuel cells, super capacitors, and seawater desalination.
As part of the ACS program, Chris will also be blogging throughout the year, especially during the conference in Paris. More information about the program, as well as the student blog that he will be contributing to, can be found here.
His creativity in research made lasting contributions to the teams he worked with, and his involvement with the American Chemical Society, on campus and nationally, demonstrates his commitment to public conversation about climate change.