Bio-inspired chemistry, in which biological design principles are applied to the construction of man-made hybrid nano-chemical catalytic structures, is a rapidly emerging area that is attracting intense interest.

Baruch ’60 Center for Biochemical Solar Energy Research at Rensselaer was established to meet this challenge through the combined and iterative use of chemical, biochemical, physical, nanomaterials, and advanced computational approaches for the design of highly efficient and cost-effective bio-inspired photovoltaic devices. During the annual Rensselaer Reunion & Homecoming weekend, the Baruch ’60 Center hosted a poster session and laboratory tours for the School of Science alumni “experiences” event.

Below are a few images from the event.

Participants include students and postdoctoral research associates from the research groups of chemistry and chemical biology professors K. V. Lakshmi, Jacob Shelley, Peter Dinolfo, and Chulsung Bae in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology department. Sara Foreman, Vidas Kalendra, Kacey Kilpatrick, Jacob Palumbo, Brian Mark, Amanda Hoffman, Adrien Campbell, Brian Molnar, Courtney Walton, Montwaun Young, Anna Smallwood ,and Stefan Turan participated in the poster session where they described their research on bio-inspired strategies for the conversion and storage of energy as electricity or chemical fuels.