Broader Impact of Lueking's Work
Research. The primary objective of my research is to develop new adsorbents for hydrogen storage and new catalysts with size selective properties for increased selectivity in hydrogenation reactions. I am motivated to make fundamental scientific contributions, and in particular, I am motivated by the potential impact of developing a viable hydrogen storage material to help enable a hydrogen fuel economy. The lack of a commercially viable and safe hydrogen storage method is one of the key hurdles to the vision of a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen serves as one strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase fuel efficiency, and facilitate the switch to alternative energy sources that require an intermittent chemical storage methodology.
The catalysis research work will lay the basis for new metal-supported catalysts (e.g. Pt/EGNF) as fuel cell electrodes (in collaboration with Y. Yeboah in future work). Catalysts with an improved performance will decrease use of costly transition metals, decrease by-products and waste due to increased selectivity, and if used in fuel cells, lead to lower emissions in energy conversion. Information obtained in the nanocarbon synthesis and adsorption studies will lay the basis for further studies of EGNFs as batteries, electrochemical double layer capacitors, adsorbents, and in separation applications. Thus the new materials and synthesis routes developed in our laboratory will have a broad impact in several research fields. Results of Lueking's research are disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and a public web site to be developed as a part of the proposed work. I will build from my current outreach activities to communicate my work to a general audience, as I have demonstrated by the teaching and outreach activities that are described in the ‘Experience’ section.
Teaching. In addition to the freedom to choose my own research questions, my final decision to pursue a career in academia was based on the opportunity to establish mentoring relationships with graduate students at a key developmental time and to ultimately improve the quality of graduate education. The proposed work provides the opportunity to focus on graduate education—through both teaching and discipline-specific research. The proposed work enables a graduate development program that goes above and beyond the minimum departmental teaching expectations, and provides the resources to accelerate my discipline-specific research mentoring and training of graduate students.
My on-going educational initiatives extend the impact of the work from graduate students directly supported by the research activities to all students that participate in the professional development course. Using the professional development course as a springboard for K-12 outreach with a “train the trainer” model puts the graduate students in outreach positions and gives them an idea of the impact they may have as an educator. This also provides a further opportunity to disseminate the research results—and extends the opportunity to students that are not directly supported by the project.
Service. I am beginning to realize that I have a ‘broader impact’ by being a female faculty member that pursues an active research program in a tenure-track position. Two years into my academic career, I have suddenly become the senior female faculty member in my department. Perhaps unwittingly, I now serve as the example of a tenure-track, research-active female faculty member that I personally sought as a graduate student. I have mentored junior students and faculty on work-life balance and have served on various panels in this regard.
Papers RE: Women Faculty in Engineering and Science
Handelsman et al., "More Women in Science", Science 309, 1190, 19 AUGUST 2005
Nelson & Rogers, "A National Analysis of Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities"
Drago et al., Faculty and Families Project The Pennsylvania State University Work-Family Working Paper #01-02 March 14, 2001