Dr. J. Louise Liu takes on the project
Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) held the final Jernigan Speaker Spotlight Series for the Fall semester on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Dr. J. Louise Liu presented her lecture, “Design and Evaluations on Nanomaterials Used for Energy Storage and Conversion.”
Over 30 attendees arrived to learn more about Dr. Liu’s latest project, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC). HFCs are environmentally friendly vehicles of transportation. They release emissions of water vapor and warm air, while a traditional combustion engine vehicle releases harmful emissions, causing pollution in the atmosphere. Dr. Liu offered a few words about this project.
“This is my dream. I think that this can happen, if I replace water into the tank, and replace the gasoline with water,” Liu said. “I have heard a lot of no’s, people saying it is nonsense and asking if I am joking. It worries me, but I am very persistent. I believe it is a good thing and something good may happen.”
Johnathan Garcia, a freshman mechanical engineering student shared his thoughts about HFCs and the event.
“The cars running off of water, I didn’t even know that was a possibility, until she mentioned it. I liked how Dr. Liu brought us into the presentation, it was more interactive and enjoyable,” Garcia said.
In 2021, Dr. Liu was named one of 12 distinguished women in chemistry or chemical engineering by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Here at TAMUK, she was promoted to the Center of Teaching Effectiveness Directorship and has taught about 11,000 students, trained more than 200 undergraduate and 45 graduate students.
Senior student Francisco Aguiniga Garcia, who is working on electrolysis for his senior design project, shared his words on what he learned.
“Finding materials that are more efficient is important for the protection of the environment. Using hydrogen is one of those ways to make things more efficient. Seeing what is going to entail in the future with this project is interesting,” Garcia said.
More Jernigan Speaker Spotlight Series will take place this upcoming Spring semester.