Julian Kosacki, a Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering from Katy, Texas, recently earned the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award. The award recognizes outstanding academic accomplishments, the merit of the student’s research project and the student’s potential to advance in their graduate studies.

Kosacki earned the award for his research titled “Establishing the Functional Links between Energy Storage and Failure Mechanisms in Lead-acid Electrochemical Interfaces.” He will conduct the work at Argonne National Laboratory.

“Julian’s work will impact the next generation of lead batteries that support energy resources transforming into renewables,” says Dr. Fatih Dogan, professor of materials science and engineering at S&T and Kosacki’s advisor. “His research focuses on understanding electrochemical interfaces during battery-cycling, which greatly impacts the electrode design for higher capacity and longer lifetimes.”

The goal of the SCGSR program is to prepare graduate students for science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission, by providing graduate thesis research opportunities at DOE laboratories. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis while providing access to the expertise, resources and capabilities available at the DOE laboratories and facilities.

The SCGSR program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists, in collaboration with the six Office of Science research programs and the DOE national laboratories and facilities.

About Missouri University of Science and Technology

Founded in 1870 as the University of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,600 students and part of the four-campus University of Missouri System. Located in Rolla, Missouri, Missouri S&T offers 99 different degree programs in 40 areas of study, including engineering, the sciences, business and information technology, education, the humanities, and the liberal arts. Missouri S&T is known globally and is highly ranked for providing a strong return on tuition investment, exceptional career opportunities for graduates, and an emphasis on applied, hands-on learning through student design teams and cooperative education and internship opportunities. Missouri S&T is the top public engineering university of 2021 as ranked by College Factual. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.