Carnegie Mellon University
December 07, 2020

Chemistry Ph.D. Student Receives PPG Fellowship

By Ben Panko

Chemistry Ph.D. student Jamie Gaitor has received the fall 2020 fellowship from the PPG Foundation to support his research.

Gaitor is a graduate student in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry Kevin Noonan. His research involves synthesizing and characterizing polyolefin-based ion exchange membranes for anion exchange membrane fuel cells.

"The goal is to develop membranes that are resistant to alkaline degradation while displaying high ionic conductivity," Gaitor said. He and his lab mates tune the polymers' physical properties to influence the materials' ionic conductivity, mechanical properties and base stability.

Gaitor said the fellowship will help his team purchase chemicals and other lab equipment to help further their research.