Sara McCormak Awarded 2nd Place in the Student Innovation Prize for the Wilkes Center Student Innovation Prize for Climate Solutions
"This year university students across the state of Utah were invited to submit their
most innovative, creative, and bold ideas for tackling climate change. Applicants
were encouraged to detail how their ideas could be rapidly scaled and have an innovative
impact for mitigating climate change, along with feasibility and potential for co-benefits
to people and/or ecosystems."
Sara McCormack
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Redox flow batteries are a promising technology for grid-scale energy storage but are currently lacking in commercial viability due to the use of costly, rare-metal-based materials. This research will use machine learning to build an improved understanding of molecular features that contribute to positive battery performance metrics, allowing for the design of more efficient organic energy storage materials and increasing their commercial viability.
Sara is a third-year PhD candidate working with Professor Matthew Sigman. Her research focuses on the computational parameterization of small organic molecules and experimental assay development to evaluate and improve the performance of grid-scale energy storage technologies. She is interested in the application of machine learning algorithms to better understand challenging chemical problems, particularly those relating to innovative energy-storage solutions.
The Wilkes Center leverages the University of Utah’s unique position and environment to drive world-class research on climate change forecasting, impacts, and solutions and places this science in the hands of decision-makers. Drawing on multidisciplinary centers of excellence at the University of Utah, the Wilkes Center strives for practical, integrative, and solutions-oriented research that can translate into policy around climate extremes, including wildfire and drought, air quality, natural ecosystems, carbon and water cycling, human environment and health. The Center is fostering educational and research training programs that support climate innovation and developing a new generation of solution-oriented leaders.
- University of Utah
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