Franklin Antonio Hall News
2020 News Releases
Energizing Plastics Renewability, Recycling Efforts
October 30, 2020
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded UC San Diego nanoengineering professor Jon Pokorski $2 million in funding to develop a new kind of biodegradable plastic—one filled with bacterial spores that will aid in breaking down the material at the end of its life-cycle. Co-leading the project will be UC San Diego bioengineer Adam Feist. Full Story
Designing batteries for easier recycling could avert a looming e-waste crisis
October 26, 2020
As concern mounts over the impacts of climate change, many experts are calling for greater use of electricity as a substitute for fossil fuels. Powered by advancements in battery technology, the number of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on U.S. roads is increasing. This, coupled with a growing volume of battery-powered phones, watches, laptops, wearable devices and other consumer technologies, leave us wondering: What will happen to all these batteries once they wear out? Full Story
UC San Diego Launches Institute for Materials Discovery and Design
October 9, 2020
Climate change, public health and equal access to food and water are some of the biggest challenges facing humanity--and materials science can help provide solutions for them all. That was the message researchers shared during the launch of the Institute for Materials Discovery and Design (IMDD) at the University of California San Diego, held virtually Sept. 29. Full Story
Toward all-solid-state lithium metal batteries
September 17, 2020
New work published in September 2020 in the journal Joule, led by researchers in the lab of UC San Diego nanoengineering professor Shirley Meng, will help explain this stability. In particular, the work unravels some of the mystery of the interface between lithium metal and LiPON. Full Story
Rare Glassy Metal Discovered During Quest to Improve Battery Performance
July 24, 2020
Scientists from UC San Diego and Idaho National Laboratory scrutinized the earliest stages of lithium recharging and learned that slow, low-energy charging causes electrodes to collect atoms in a disorganized way that improves charging behavior. This noncrystalline “glassy” lithium had never been observed, and creating such amorphous metals has traditionally been extremely difficult. Full Story
I'm gonna contribute to the revolution of the pharmaceutical world
May 20, 2020
When Qiangzhe “Oliver” Zhang was still a high school student in China applying to colleges in the United States, UC San Diego’s chemical engineering program at Jacobs School of Engineering was at the top of his list. “I knew they had this very new, very innovative nanoengineering program,” he said. “It’s one of a kind, and that got me really excited.” Now, almost eight years later, Zhang is working at the leading edge of biomedical research under Liangfang Zhang in the Nanomaterials and Nanomedicine Laboratory, developing new technologies that could completely change how scientists combat viruses like HIV and SARS-CoV-2 Full Story
UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering jumped to #9 in U.S. News and World Report Rankings of Best Engineering Schools
March 20, 2020
The University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering jumped to the #9 spot in the influential U.S. News and World Report Rankings of Best Engineering Schools. This is up from #11 last year and #17 four years ago. It’s the first time the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering has broken into the top 10 of this closely watched ranking. Full Story