Chulsung Bae, assistant professor of chemistry in the UNLV College of Sciences, has received a five-year, $450,000 Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation for his research on fuel cells - technology considered critical for meeting energy needs in the twenty-first century.
Each year NSF recognizes outstanding scientists who, early in their careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. The CAREER award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.
"This individual honor recognizes Bae's impressive accomplishments and his outstanding future in alternative energy research," said Ron Yasbin, Dean of the UNLV College of Sciences. "Chulsung and his UNLV colleagues are at the forefront of fuel cell research and this award further underscores our role in addressing this issue of critical global concern."
The major focus of Bae's work includes developing new materials that will improve the performance of fuel cell devices, hasten their delivery to commercial markets, and help in the development of more environmentally friendly chemical technology.
Fuel cells, which convert the chemical energies stored in fuel directly into electrical energy, are expected to be a key technology for meeting energy needs in the twenty-first century. The goal of this CAREER project is to combine different fields of chemistry and materials science/engineering and create new materials that will provide molecular-level insight into material property and play a key role in the development of commercially viable fuel cell technologies globally. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of fuel cell research, this project will attract participants from a wide range of areas, contribute to the infrastructure and programmatic basis for research and education opportunities-e.g., graduate student training, graduate mentoring of undergraduate research assistants, classroom demonstrations-and create an academic/private industry partnership as a possible career path for students.
In addition to basic research and education programs for students, Bae hopes his fuel cell research will build a bridge between the general public's increasing concern about global climate change and its desire for clean alternative energy production.
Bae received a Ph.D. in chemistry at University of Southern California (2002), under the guidance of Professor G. K. Surya Prakash and Nobel Laureate Professor George A. Olah. In 2002, he moved to Yale University to conduct postdoctoral research. He has been an assistant professor of chemistry at UNLV since 2004.
Bae joins assistant professors Brian Hedlund and Frank Van Breukelen, school of life sciences, as the third CAREER Award recipient in as many years at UNLV.
