Ethan Lawrence

Ethan Lawrence


EthanLawrence-headshotEthan joined the group in the fall of 2014 as a Ph.D. student.  He gained his bachelor’s degree from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA, majoring in physics and math.  As an undergraduate he was involved in several summers of glass research at Coe College, the University of Manitoba in Canada, and at Corning Incorporated in New York.  He also had an internship at Rockwell Collins, an aviation communications company, working on micro-radio filters for military radio communications.

His Ph.D. work focuses on using in situ TEM techniques to perform atomic-level analysis of oxygen exchange reactions on ceria-based catalysts. He has studied carbon deposition from various hydrocarbon gases on Ni/CeO2 and Ni/SiO2 catalysts using in situ imaging and spectroscopy. Additionally, he has imaged various types CeO2 surfaces to correlate picometer-level displacements of atomic columns to oxygen exchange processes. He is currently analyzing atomic displacements and lattice expansions/contractions occurring on CeO2 nanoparticle surfaces using 0.0025 second time resolution in situ TEM imaging (video below).

Outside of the lab, Ethan was a founding member of the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) Student Council and served as Treasurer for two years. He also helped establish the flagship event of the Student Council, a Pre-meeting Congress (PMC) for Students, Postdocs, and Early-career Professionals, at the annual Microscopy & Microanalysis meeting. For two years, he was the Social and Activities chair, and in 2019 he is the Program chair for the PMC. Through these roles, he has gained valuable experience in conference organizing, fundraising, and professional networking.


 

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Atomic-resolution TEM Imaging of a CeO2 nanoparticle at 400 frames/second.