The EPFL Doctorate Award puts chemistry in the spotlight
Rainer Beck and Bruce Yoder © Alain Herzog
Bruce Yoder, a former member of EPFL’s Molecular Physical Chemistry Laboratory, has won an award for his doctoral research. The EPFL Doctoral Award recognizes PhD work of exceptional quality and aims to encourage careers in research. Mission accomplished with this chemist.
Bruce Yoder is currently doing postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He made a special trip back to Switzerland to receive the EPFL Doctorate Award. This prize is given each year to the School’s two best PhD theses. It’s a good start to a successful career for this promising scientist. Before flying back over the pond, the American chemist answered a few questions for us.
What was your reaction when you learned that you had won the prize?
I was stunned; for me this is fantastic. I felt even more proud to be a member of the EPFL community. It was my third good news of the year. First there was the publication of our results in Science, then the SNSF grant to do my research in Canada, and finally this award.
Did you think your research was this outstanding?
Our results are generating a lot of interest for basic research and could one day lead to important results for industry, notably in hydrogen and syngas production, which is used in manufacturing many industrial chemical products. We showed that methane gas reactions on a nickel surface depend on how the gas molecules are aligned on the surface. Our discovery was unexpected.
How do you see the rest of your career unfolding?
My goal is to find a job in academic research. In the next two years, I’m going to continue to work in aerosol analysis. Then I will develop an independent research plan that will enable me to use the tools I acquired during my PhD and postdoctoral work. I would really like to return to Switzerland some day. There are great opportunities here. I have maintained good contacts with EPFL. For example, at the moment I am still working with my professor, Rainer Beck, on a new article that will supplement the first one we published in Science.
Link:
http://library.epfl.ch/theses/?au=yoder&ti=&sc=&yr=&nr=&adv=&access=&send.x=0&send.y=0