Using ‘God’s smallest building blocks’ to solve global issues
Annie Sandberg Douglas discusses how nanotechnology can be used to help clean the environment during her Celebration seminar on Sept. 30.
Lee University alumna Annie Sandberg Douglas was one of 35 guest speakers on campus on Friday, Sept. 30 for Celebration 2016.
In her seminar, Douglas, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University, explored how nanotechnology can help solve global issues such as clean water, air and energy.
She first shared how silicon, one of the most abundant elements on earth, is being used by her research team to remove salt from water.
“We all understand that not everyone on the globe has access to clean water, but unfortunately to take salt water or dirty water and clean it, it requires a lot of energy,” Douglas said. “In our lab we use porous silicon and basically create these tree-like structures that we can use as our electrodes to collect a lot of salt."
Douglas also discussed how developing next-generation, rechargeable batteries with nanoparticles would allow people to harness and store energy for later use. She proposed using low-cost materials, such as sulfur and sodium, rather than expensive cobalt or lithium.
“A lot of people think of clean energy in terms of solar and wind and things like renewable energy sources, but the problem is those are intermittent. The sun isn’t always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing,” Douglas said. “We can actually use nano to help us in next-generation batteries with using sulfur and sodium.”
Madison Dressler, a senior biology major at Lee, expressed her interest in how nanotechnology can help solve several environmental issues.
“I think it is a wonderful concept," Dressler said. "It was very informative and helped me understand some topics that could initially be confusing."
Additionally, Douglas proposed how the production of carbon nanotubes could potentially “mend the sins of carbon dioxide” by cleaning up the air.
“Our skies are suffering, in addition to having a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, this affects a lot of things other than just global climate change,” Douglas said. “If we could take carbon dioxide and produce something as valuable as carbon nanotubes, this would be great."
Assistant Professor of Chemistry John Hearn said hopefully hearing from Douglas and other Lee graduates may help students to make choices for their future careers.
“I thought it was important for students to hear a perspective from outside the medical field. It is always good to hear from a student who has chosen to do research,” Hearn said. “If students can hear perspectives from graduates who chose different career paths, they can make more informed decisions.”
As she continues to work on her Ph.D., Douglas encourages students to research material science if they plan to go to graduate school.
“If you’re interested in things other than the medical field, try doing some research,” Douglas said. “Don’t think you’re limited by your major. There’s a lot of options for things you want to do, and especially nowadays with the research world becoming so interdisciplinary.”
