As we shift towards a green economy, how can we track hydrogen leakages? What techniques can be developed to synthesize metastable quantum materials? How can we harness the interaction of light and matter to control chemical reactivity?
The CCB winners of this year’s Star-Friedman Challenge for Promising Scientific Research are pursuing the answers to these questions. The CCB researchers selected for awards were Frank Keutsch, Richard Liu, Joonho Lee, and Jarad Mason. On Thursday, May 11, winners of the Star-Friedman Challenge gave short, accessible presentations about their projects and fielded questions from an audience in the Faculty Room of University Hall.
In its tenth year, the challenge annually awards nearly $1 million in seed funding to Harvard researchers to provide seed funding to interdisciplinary high-risk, high-impact projects in the life, physical, and social sciences. There are no limitations on the subject areas and programs that take the investigators in directions that are new for them are encouraged. Chaired by Charles Alcock, Donald H. Menzel Professor of Astrophysics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the faculty review committee convened and selected seven visionary projects from this year’s impressive wave of research proposals.
Established in 2013 by a generous gift to Harvard University at the suggestion of James A. Star, AB (1983), the program expanded in the 2018-19 academic year through a gift from Joshua Friedman, AB (1976), MBA (1980), JD (1982) and Beth Friedman to invite proposal submissions from Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) in addition to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). The Star-Friedman Challenge was previously supported by immediate-use funding; in 2020, the donors made generous new gifts to permanently endow the Challenge, ensuring that it can continue to support cutting-edge research at Harvard in perpetuity.
Below you will find a brief look at each of these projects.
Harnessing the Light-Matter Interaction for Controlling Chemical Reactivity
Co-PIs: Richard Y. Liu and Joonho Lee
Presenter: Richard Y. Liu
Summary: Isotope-based experiments will provide reproducible, tunable measurements that will guide the development of a correct theoretical understanding of vibrational strong coupling. The same experimental platform can be adapted for isotope-selective synthesis, a foundational unmet need in organic chemistry.
Developing techniques for synthesizing metastable quantum materials
PI: Jarad Mason
Presenter: Julia Mundy (Collaborator)
Summary: Combining reactive oxide molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) and solution-phase inorganic chemistry. This platform will be applied to two materials targets: electrondoped nickelates, which are promising candidates for cuprate-like superconductivity, and oxynitrides which are predicted to be leading contenders for light harvesting.
Identification and Initial Development of Technology for Quantifying Hydrogen Emissions
PI: Frank Keutsch
Summary: By using various technqiues in chemistry, Keutsch seeks to track and identify hydrogen via its "fingerprints," which is crucial as the world invests in renewable energy.
