Graduate Students
Introduction
Graduate students in the Boettcher lab acquire a diverse skill-set spanning synthetic solid-state/materials chemistry, device physics, and electrochemistry.
Making a significant contribution that truly impacts and changes deep-seated energy technologies is a major challenge. The expectation is that all students in the Boettcher laboratory will strive to be exceptional — and succeed as the future leaders in their chosen area of energy science. This requires dedication, focus, hard work, resourcefulness, and the willingness to constantly seek to improve one’s scientific, technical, and communication abilities (“growth mindset”). Students in the Boettcher laboratory do whatever it takes to make their projects successful by becoming experts in their field and developing a deep knowledge of the scientific literature, and by developing partnerships and collaborations with other research groups around the world.
Group members also recognize the challenges inherent in achieving the above goals and strive to create a supportive, collaborative environment, where the contributions of each researcher are valued and respected.
You can read our group philosophy document, developed by the team and group alumni (updated annually) to get a sense of what our team cares about.
PhD rotation students can read advice for a successful rotation and some expectations.
Shannon randomly recording videos of students in the lab!
Ally and Kora make and study perovskite oxygen catalysts (undergraduate researchers)
Grace and Sarah testing pure and dirty water alkaline membrane electrolyzers (PhD student and UG)
Liam and Seoungpil in the Lewis Office (PhD student and visiting Prof._
Aaron building single-crystal oxide photoelectrodes (PhD student)
Kira preparing gold single-crystals for studies of ion-transfer in corrosion using UPD (PhD student)
Lu cleaning electrodes for studies of OER on Co(Fe)OOH (CSC Visiting PhD Student)
Haokun working at bipolar membrane electrolysis station and fabrication setup (PhD student)
Applying
There are two paths to joining the Boettcher laboratory as a PhD student.
In the traditional path, students apply directly to the University of Oregon Dept. of Chemistry, or possibly to Physics (we take students from both departments). An overview of our unique and exceptional PhD program is here (this is several years old now, but still relevant!).
The second path involves first joining the team through our masters industrial internship program in the Center for Electrochemistry or in other relevant technology areas (semiconductors etc.) then transitioning back to our PhD program with coursework already complete and relevant industry work experience. Students that pursue this route have a 100% success rate in finishing our PhD program.
Recommended Preparatory Coursework
Background
Students with any almost any prior science or engineering background can thrive in our group. Different backgrounds across chemistry (analytical, synthesis, physical, materials), physics (solid-state, optical, etc.) and engineering (materials science, chemical, mechanical) all provide unique foundational skills. As part of your PhD you will learn more specialized knowledge based on your project, but more importantly, you will learn how to solve difficult unstructured problems effectively and creatively!
UO Courses
Students interested in semiconductor photoelectrochemistry (e.g. for direct solar-to-fuel concepts) should consider participating in the summer courses in semiconductor device physics and processing offered through the Materials Science Institute. It is also possible to take the lecture components of these courses the following summer (interested students should contact Prof. Boettcher or Prof. Lonergan).
The inorganic chemistry sequence should generally be taken, especially relevant are the terms which cover solid-state and materials chemistry.
Courses in adv. electrochemistry (CH554) and electrochemical engineering (CH692) should be taken if possible. You can access video lectures for some electrochemistry topics here.
The physics department offers undergraduate-level courses in electricity and magnetism (PHYS 412, 413), for you which you can likely earn graduate credit as a chemist. Talk to Shannon if you are interested in taking these courses, which are fundamental to understanding solid-state materials and challenging.
Students with a good math background and some quantum mechanics mayconsider taking solid state physics (PHYS 671, 672)
Additional fundamental courses in physical/inorganic chemistry and as relevant to your research interests. Examples include quantum mechanics (CH541) and thermodynamics (CH544).
Courses in computational chemistry, design of experiments (physics), or in programming (through Computer Science) could also be highly relevant.
The materials characterization facility, CAMCOR, also offers relevant surface analytical and electron microscopy graduate coursework.
External Resources
Nanohub is an excellent resource for self-paced online coursework semiconductor materials.
Particularly relevant are solid state device courses.
There are excellent online, graduate-level video lectures to learn fundamentals of energy sciences, electrochemistry and crystallography. New graduate students should use these tools to facilitate learning about topics that are central to research in the Boettcher group:
NRG 0.1 – Caltech – Leading scientists talk about all aspects of energy research and technology.
Electrochemistry – Caltech – Electrochemistry Course by Andy Bocarsly; based on classic text by Bard and Faulkner. (We have all the lectures downloaded and burned to DVD as well)
Symmetry – MIT Open Courseware – Course on Crystallography and applications from MIT Professor Wuensch. The first half of the lecture series provides an excellent introduction to concepts of symmetry and space groups in crystals. Important for any students interested in the synthesis / design of new solid state materials.
Energy 101 – Stanford – Streaming lectures from leading researchers introduce batteries, solar cells, and other energy topics.
Shannon Lecture PPT – Tutorial Slides on Semiconductors, Photoelectrochemistry and Water splitting
Postdoctoral Scholars
Application Process
Please send a CV and cover letter describing how your skill set specifically addresses our research program to swb@uoregon.edu. We are not currently actively seeking postdoctoral scholars but will certainly consider outstanding candidates. Due to the volume of applications received, we cannot respond to each one.
International Applicants: Prof. Boettcher is happy to work with you in applying for fellowship funding from your home country for a postdoctoral position at the University of Oregon (e.g. DFG, CSC, Marie Curie, Fulbright, etc.).
Undergraduate Students
Introduction
Exceptional undergraduates can work in the lab either for credit or through established programs. To be considered send (1) cover letter, (2) curriculum vitae, and (3) an unofficial transcript to swb@uoregon.edu.
If you are working on a volunteer basis you need to fill out this form.
You should also read this excellent Guide to Mentoring Undergraduates.
If you are a UO undergraduate, you should consider applying to the following programs for research funding:
Undergraduate Research Fellowships at UO
McNair Fellowship Program
Undergraduates from other Universities should consider applying to the Undergraduate research programs at the University of Oregon:
Undergraduates may also consider research internships at outside universities. Some excellent opportunities (among many others) are listed here:
SURF – Caltech – Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program
NINN REU Program – National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network: Nanotech around the country
CCMR REU Program – Cornell Center for Materials Research REU program