Dr. Lea Winter receives a 2024 Early Career Research Program Award

Dr. Lea Winter, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, will receive a 2024 Early Career Research Program award from the U.S. Department of Energy. The award program provides funding for research in an array of fields and is a key part of the federal government’s efforts to develop the next generation of STEM leaders to solidify America’s role as the driver of science and technology innovation around the world.  Winter’s award, entitled “Tuning Electrocatalytic Reduction of Plasma Pre-Activated CO2 Toward Multicarbon Products”, will provide $995,593 for research to unlock new electrocatalyst design spaces for multicarbon product generation using C02/CO pre-activation with nonthermal plasma. The award builds upon research funded by a YCNCC seed grant to Dr. Winter. The reactor that Dr. Winter developed with YCNCC funding also led to a Beckman Young Investigator Award that she received earlier this year (Yale story here) that aims to develop a new method of producing ammonia for fertilizer, addressing the long-standing challenge of reducing carbon emissions while increasing global access to fertilizer.