Publications

Toward a size scale-up cold sintering process at reduced uniaxial pressure,” Sun Hwi Bang, Kosuke Tsuji, Arnaud Ndayishimiye, Sinan Dursun, Joo-Hwan Seo, Stephen Otieno, and Clive A. Randall, Journal of the American Ceramic Society 104, 2232-2237(2019).

This paper was the outcome of a scientific collaboration seeded at the 2018 JUAMI school in Uganda between Penn State University in the USA and Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya in Africa. The team demonstrated that, counter to conventional wisdom, some materials can be reasonably well densified by cold sintering at pressures below 50 MPa. Such pressures can be achieved over areas as large as 25 cm2 using a small tabletop press as is available in many labs. Thus, the work shows cold sintering may be viable for scaled-up fabrication of components with application relevant dimensions.

An Easily Fabricated Low-Cost Potentiostat Coupled with User-Friendly Software for Introducing Students to Electrochemical Reactions and Electroanalytical Techniques,” Yuguang C. Li, Elizabeth L. Melenbrink, Guy J. Cordonier, Christopher Boggs, Anupama Khan, Morko Kwembur Isaac, Lameck Kabambalika Nkhonjera, David Bahati, Simon J. Billinge, Sossina M. Haile, Rodney A. Kreuter, Robert M. Crable, and Thomas E. Mallouk, Journal of Chemical Education 95 1658-1661 (2018).

As part of JUAMI 2016 held in Tanzania, an international group of students, led by Y. Christopher Li then at Penn State, created a low-cost microcontroller-based potentiostat suitable both for teaching and for research grade measurements. The team worked on the design and fabrication of this device for several months after spawning the idea as a collaborative research proposal during their two weeks in Arusha. The group received financial support from the MRS Foundation to build the first generation of the device. Example measurements made using the JUAMI potentiostat are documented in the publication. All the necessary instructions and information, including schematics for the potentiostat, circuit layout, electronic components, case fabrication, step-by-step instructions for assembly, software user interface and detailed operating instructions are available in the Supplementary Material to that publication. Upgraded Python software will be released in early 2023, replacing the original LabView interface.

Developing and Piloting Culturally Relevant Chemistry Pedagogy: Computer-Based VSEPR and Unit Cell Lesson Plans from Collaborative Exchange in East Africa,” Philip P. Rodenbough and Majuto Clement Manyilizu, Journal of Chemical Education 96 1273-1277 (2019).

Based on a collaboration that grew out of the 2012 JUAMI school, this paper describes the development of culturally relevant computer-based lessons specifically for implementation in the unique environment of East African high schools. The lesson plans use software more commonly employed by materials science graduate students (Vesta, a freely available, crystal structure visualization program), repurposed here for the high school chemistry classroom. The lesson plans were successfully piloted in local schools, indicating their potential for wide impact. The careful design of the lessons based on specific environmental factors through multifaceted contributors suggests a model of collaboration that could be useful in many other contexts.