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Category: Cleantech

Matthew Golder named 2026 Sloan Fellow

March 3, 2026

March 3, 2026 | Diana Knight (UW Chemistry) Matthew Golder has been selected as a 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry. These two-year, $75,000 fellowships are awarded yearly to 126 early-career researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field. Assistant Professor Matthew Golder’s research program addresses [...]

Building batteries better

January 26, 2026

Looking beyond incremental innovations in energy storage technology, Jie Xiao wants to catalyze a robust domestic battery industry — from mining to manufacturing. Build a better mousetrap, the old saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door. Build a better battery… and the multitudes should arrive in an endless stream of autonomous electric vehicles. Only, it’s not that simple with energy storage. Most battery innovations begin in academic environments that are designed for discovery rather than the cost, time and scale pressures of industry. [...]

UW ECE Professor Lih-Yuan Lin named National Academy of Inventors Fellow

January 22, 2026

The University of Washington Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (UW ECE) congratulates Professor Lih-Yuan Lin, who has been elected into the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) 2025 Class of Fellows. This distinction recognizes her outstanding work and lasting impact in nanotechnology, photonics, and optoelectronics — fields that are shaping the future of technology. Lin is one of only 10 UW faculty members to ever receive this honor. She will be formally inducted as an NAI Fellow and presented with a medal by a senior official of the United States Patent and Trademark Office at the NAI 15th Annual Conference on June 4, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. [...]

Advancing water treatment for a sustainable future

October 6, 2025

UW Chemical Engineering graduate student Joelle Scott, from the Bergsman Research Group, is working toward a more sustainable and equitable future through advanced materials research, testing new methods to remove toxic forever chemicals and other contaminants from wastewater. [...]

Q&A: Making Earth-friendly electronics

April 21, 2022

Three UW researchers, including MolES faculty member Eleftheria Roumeli, are exploring ways to make electronics more Earth-friendly. [...]

Corie L. Cobb awarded DARPA Director’s Fellowship

January 24, 2022

Corie L. Cobb, professor of mechanical engineering and the Washington Research Foundation Innovation Professor in Clean Energy, has been selected as recipient of the prestigious Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Director's Fellowship Award. [...]

NSF to fund revolutionary center for optoelectronic, quantum technologies

September 9, 2021

The National Science Foundation has announced it will fund a new endeavor to bring atomic-level precision to the devices and technologies that underpin much of modern life, and will transform fields like information technology in the decades to come. The five-year, $25 million Science and Technology Center grant will found the Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand "” or IMOD "” a collaboration of scientists and engineers at 11 universities led by the University of Washington. [...]

UW synthetic biologist James Carothers wins ARPA-E award to develop new CO2 bioconversion process

July 13, 2021

The funding will be used to develop scalable, cell-free platforms that enable the capture and conversion of carbon dioxide into industrial chemicals, providing manufacturers with a cheaper, more efficient and sustainable means of chemical production. [...]

All together now: Experiments with twisted 2D materials catch electrons behaving collectively

October 7, 2020

In a paper published Sept. 14 in the journal Nature Physics, a team led by the University of Washington reports that carefully constructed stacks of graphene "” a 2D form of carbon "” can exhibit highly correlated electron properties. The team also found evidence that this type of collective behavior likely relates to the emergence of exotic magnetic states. [...]

Pacific oysters in the Salish Sea may not contain as many microplastics as previously thought

May 1, 2020

Using advanced instrumentation in the Molecular Analysis Facility, researchers in the lab of MolES faculty member and materials science & engineering professor Christine Luscombe have discovered that Salish Sea oysters may not contain as many microplastic contaminants as previously thought. [...]

Collaborating for Clean Tech

January 24, 2020

MolE PhD student Ted Cohen shares how molecular engineering has opened new opportunities for collaboration. Cohen is a 4th year molecular engineering Ph.D. student co-advised by Professor of Chemistry Daniel Gamelin and Professors of Materials Science & Engineering Christine Luscombe and Devin Mackenzie. [...]

New technique lets researchers map strain in next-gen solar cells

October 31, 2019

A team led by David Ginger, professor of chemistry and MolES faculty member, has developed a way to map strain in lead halide perovskite solar cells. Their approach shows that misorientation between microscopic perovskite crystals is the primary contributor to the buildup of strain within the solar cell, which creates small-scale defects in the grain structure, interrupts the transport of electrons within the solar cell, and ultimately leads to heat loss through a process known as non-radiative recombination. [...]

Three awards from US Department of Energy to fuel UW solar cell research

January 16, 2019

Three teams led by University of Washington researchers have received competitive awards totaling more than $2.3 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office for projects that will advance research and development in photovoltaic materials, which are an essential component of solar cells and impact the amount of sunlight that is converted into electricity. Two of the UW teams are led by MolES faculty members Scott Dunham, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and Hugh Hillhouse, a professor of chemical engineering. [...]

Navigating interdisciplinary research as a MolE PhD student

May 21, 2018

At the intersection of genetic engineering and nanoscience, second-year MolE PhD candidate Tyler (Ty) Jorgenson is developing a set of design rules for devices that join biology with solid-state materials. His research focuses on the self-assembly of solid-binding peptides and their interfaces with single-layer atomic (2D) materials, which he says is particularly promising for bioelectronic devices. [...]

UW team develops fast, cheap method to make supercapacitor electrodes for electric cars, high-powered lasers

July 18, 2017

University of Washington researchers have developed a fast, inexpensive method to make electrodes for supercapacitors, with applications in electric cars, wireless telecommunications and high-powered lasers. [...]

MolES researchers build energy efficient nanolaser

March 25, 2015

University of Washington scientists have built a new nanometer-sized laser "” using the thinnest semiconductor available today "” that is energy efficient, easy to build and compatible with existing electronics. The ultra-thin semiconductor is about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. [...]

Environmental Innovation Challenge Cleantech Prototype Funding

November 6, 2013

About the Environmental Innovation Challenge If you’ve got a passion for cleantech and the desire to make an impact, the UW Environmental Innovation Challenge is for you. In the EIC, interdisciplinary student teams define an environmental problem, design a solution, produce a prototype, and create a business summary that demonstrates market opportunity and the potential [...]

11/7: Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus to Present Inaugural Clean Energy Institute Lecture

October 31, 2013

Please join the Clean Energy Institute as Professor Mildred Dresselhaus presents its inaugural interdisciplinary seminar: Perspectives on Our Energy Future Providing clean energy to the inhabitants of our planet is a major challenge to future generations. This talk will give my perspectives on this challenge in general terms and on how nanoscience and new nano-materials [...]

Clean Energy Institute announces new graduate fellowships for 2014

October 24, 2013

The UW Clean Energy Institute (CEI) announces two new graduate fellowship opportunities. The mission of the CEI Fellowship program is to catalyze clean energy research that is related to solar energy conversion (Sun-to-Electricity and Sun-to-Chemicals), electrical energy storage (Electricity-to-Chemicals/Materials/Other), and electrical systems and the grid (Electricity Distribution). Some specific goals of the program are to: [...]

Posner, UW Engineers Receive US Department of Energy Grant to Design Clean, Fuel-Efficient Cookstoves

September 11, 2013

From UW Today: September 11, 2013 UW engineers get grant to make cookstoves 10 times cleaner for developing world Michelle Ma Nearly 500 million households roughly 3 billion people, or 42 percent of the world's population rely on burning materials such as wood, animal dung or coal in stoves for cooking and heating [...]