2021 Scialog Fellow

Sources:

https://www.egr.msu.edu/news/2020/10/15/negative-emissions-science

Jose Mendoza of Michigan State University has been named a Fellow for Scialog: Negative Emissions Science and will join 50 early-career scientists aimed at tackling the issues of greenhouse gases during a national conference on Nov. 5-6, 2020.

Mendoza, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science, was selected as a Fellow by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA). Scialog, short for “science + dialog,” is a multi-year initiative with fellows from across the U.S. and Canada. The Scialog: Negative Emissions Science is sponsored by RCSA and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

His research focus is on quantum simulations, materials by design, machine learning and quantum computing algorithms. One of his early papers on materials by design was published in Science magazine and was awarded the 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Newcomb Cleveland Prize, which is AAAS’s oldest and most prestigious award. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society.

Recent work on designing new materials for energy conversion – specifically on artificial photosynthesis – has been published in national media and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) highlights.

Mendoza is developing new numerical techniques to study structural, electronic, transport and optical properties of materials, low-dimensional systems and nanostructures. Computer simulations performed in his group have addressed physical and chemical properties of 2D-materials, porous materials, catalysts, nanotubes, polymers, catalytic/metallic/magnetic clusters and molecular machines.

“I’m lucky and humbled to be selected as part of the talented pool of multidisciplinary scientists and engineers,” he said. “My goal is to bring my expertise to the table and help provide solutions to climate change.

“I think the challenges of our time need both a big picture and specialized approach. This is our philosophy on attacking research problems, so I hope to contribute with new ideas and in-depth conversations,” he added.

Mendoza joined MSU in August 2020 from the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the Florida A&M University – Florida State University Joint College of Engineering, where he was an assistant professor.

He received PhD and master’s degrees in materials science at the California Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in physical chemistry at Tec de Monterrey in Mexico. His postdoctoral fellowship was at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Berkeley National Lab, where he served as a staff scientist. He noted that because of graduate and post-graduate studies advisers, his academic great grandparents are Marie Curie and Paul Dirac.

View the entire list of new Scialog Fellows.