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Advanced Materials for Energy & Sustainability Song Research Group

We always look for passionate scholars and students with broad backgrounds in solid-state and materials chemistry who will investigate the interrelationship of design/processing, structure, and properties of novel materials for energy and environmental applications while also contributing to the larger team mission:

“We strive for multi-disciplinary, team science to address grand engineering challenges in materials, energy, and sustainability by performing fundamental research, science education/outreach, and technology transfer to our industry partners.”

2019 Group Lunch2017 Group Brunch

Postdoctoral Associates / Visiting Scholars

  • Dr. Young-Hwan Cha (PhD, Washington State University)
  • Unjin Ryu (PhD candidate, Sookmyung Women’s University in Korea)

PhD Students

  • Panpan Dong (MS, Tsinghua University in China)
  • Xiahui Zhang (BS, Central South University in China)
  • Michael Kindle (BS, Washington State University)
  • Julio Zamora (BS, University of California, Davis)
  • Muqiao Su (BS, Purdue University)

Undergraduate Students

  • Yousef Saleh (Mechanical Engineering, Honors College)
  • Gunnar Sly (Chemical Engineering, Honors College)
  • Samantha Robillard (Materials Science & Engineering)

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

  • We seek students who will tackle real-world problems beyond textbooks. To do so, you will need to be dedicated and focused. If you think you have both “passion” and “perseverance”, please contact the PI (song) with your resume and a brief description of your future career goals.
  • We encourage students of diverse backgrounds (in gender, disability, race, and ethnicity) to join our research group.
  • Especially, if you are interested in getting PhD in the Science/Engineering field, please send an email or talk to the PI (Song) after a class or a talk.
  • While we currently have only volunteer researcher positions, the PI (Song) is actively seeking the funding opportunities to support undergraduate researchers.
  • Undergraduate students in our group are assigned portions of real research projects. You will be given the opportunity to design, perform and present your research in our group meeting and many other venues.
  • We have a proven track record of supporting undergraduate students. For example, our former undergraduate researcher, Michael Kindle, received several awards (NASA Space Grant Scholarship, Best Poster Award for Undergraduate Research Showcase at WSU, the second Best Oral Presentation Award at Paper Night – an annual research competition event for undergraduate students between WSU and University of Idaho), and is currently pursuing his PhD in our group.

Student Successes

  • Our Undergraduate Researcher, Gunnar Sly received the Auvil Award 2019 from the Office of Undergraduate Research, WSU.
  • Panpan received the Best Poster Presentation Award (the first place in the Engineering and Environmental Sciences category) for her research presented at the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) Research Exposition 2019 at WSU.
  • Younghwan received the 3rd Best Poster Presentation Award for his research presented at the WSU Materials Science & Engineering PhD Program Research Expo, 2019.
  • Our Undergraduate Researcher, Yousef Saleh received the Auvil Award 2018 from the Office of Undergraduate Research, WSU.
  • Michael received the 2nd Best Poster Presentation Award for his research presented at the American Ceramic Society’s 2018 Glass and Optical Materials Division Meeting (GOMD 2018) in San Antonio, TX.
  • Panpan and Xiahui received Alaska Airline Travel Grants for their presentations at ECS Spring meeting 2018.
  • Michael, as an undergraduate researcher then, won the NASA Space Grant Scholarship and the Crimson Award (the first place in the Engineering and Physical Science category) for his research presented at the Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA 2016) at WSU. He also won the Second Best Oral Presentation Award at the undergraduate competition event (called Paper Night) annually held by materials major students between two schools at the border: WSU and University of Idaho.
  • Younghwan and Jung-In received Alaska Airline Travel Grants for their presentations at MRS 2016 Fall meeting and 18th International Meeting on Lithium Batteries (IMLB 2016), respectively.
  • Xiahui and Panpan received Travel Grants from Materials Research Society (MRS) for their presentations at MRS 2016 Fall meeting and 5th International Conference on Metal-Organic Frameworks & Open Framework Compounds (MOF 2016), respectively.
  • Panpan was successful in the application for the prestigious China Scholarship Council (CSC) Fellowship for her PhD study.

Former Team Members

  • Kisoo Yoo (Mentee, PhD student in Prof. Prashanta Dutta’s group): Degree – PhD 2015, Position taken – Assistant Professor, Yeungnam University, Korea
  • Craig Owen (Mentee, PhD student in Prof. Grant Norton’s group): Degree – PhD 2017, Position taken – Battery Scientist, Microsoft, Redmond, WA
  • Jung-In Lee (Postdoc): 2015-2017, Position taken – Assistant Research Professor at UNIST, Korea
  • Jiyoung Kim (Visiting Scholar, PhD, University of Science & Technology (UST) – Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) campus, Korea)
  • Shuo Feng (Master student): Degree – Master 2016, Position taken – PhD student at WSU
  • Michael Kindle (Undergraduate student): Degree – Bachelor 2016, Position taken – PhD student at WSU
  • Joshua Crebbin (Undergraduate student): Degree – Bachelor 2017