In Rafailovich, the leader they need (when they need her most)

 

Inside the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC), today’s young scientists are knee-deep in the energy of tomorrow – a sustainability smorgasbord replete with cutting-edge catalysts, state-of-the-art solar tech, far-out fuel cells and enough perovskite to choke a pony.

It’s heady stuff, and even the most brilliant student-researchers need a major-league mentor to guide them through the next-level nuances – preferably a thinker/doer type who understands the science, boasts an award-winning career famous for innovative breakthroughs and is smart enough to help students discover their own scientific evolutions, their own pathways to leadership.

In Miriam Rafailovich – director of Stony Brook University’s Thermonuclear & Imaging Nanoscale Characterization (ThINC) Laboratory, a core AERTC facility – students have that mentor.

The SBU-trained nuclear physicist (PhD, 1980) and renowned microscopy expert (electron microscopes, cryo-scanners, other next-gen stuff) is more than just an expert scientist – she understands the science of expertise, a rare trait she’s able to impart on many ThINC researchers.

“Her expertise and attitude in research exemplify what it means to be a professional teacher and mentor,” says Likun Wang, a PhD candidate (materials science and chemical engineering) who credits his work in “catalytic interface engineering” – in a nutshell, designing sustainable membranes that reduce the costs and enhance the performance of hydrogen fuel cells – to Dr. Rafailovich. 

“Without her encouragement, persistent guidance and continuous help with the academic need, none of my academic progress would have been possible,” Wang adds.

Other materials science PhD candidates swimming around ThINC’s tank share similar praise. Researcher Aniket Raut, who also concentrates on improving proton exchanges in fuel cell membranes, calls Dr. Rafailovich “the most knowledgeable person I know,” while Yuchen Zhou – on a quest to answer fundamental questions regarding high-performing, chemically unstable perovskite solar cells – praises the professor’s never-say-die attitude.

“She is not only knowledgeable, energetic and caring, but she is so inspiring,” Zhou says. “That always encourages me to not stop discovering the true science behind the known.

“Every time I encounter setbacks in my research,” Zhou adds, “her ideas and help are like the light at the end of a tunnel, making me feel hopeful and enlightened.”

Raut, who in non-pandemic times spends his laboratory time deriving novel alternatives to current fuel-cell membranes and improving the performance of Alkaline fuel cells, considers himself twice-blessed. Not only is his mentor “very passionate about research” and “very resourceful,” but their mutual playground – the ThINC lab, the AERTC, the whole of Stony Brook University – is a researcher’s wonderland.

“In the AERTC and on the Stony Brook campus, we are surrounded by a lot of helpful people,” he notes. “They work very hard and help each other … it’s a very warm atmosphere. I love working here.”

Wang similarly praises the AERTC’s state-of-the-art facilities, plus “easy access” to other campus laboratories and centers, while Zhou thinks SBU is the perfect campus to do a little doping.

Of course, he means that most scientifically – Zhou’s current work focuses on “doping” perovskite (a crystalline structure similar to calcium titanium oxide) with polymers, semiconducting nanomaterials and other performance-enhancers meant to suppress “detrimental ion migrations,” the main symptom of perovskite’s nefarious chemical instability.

“The quiet campus, convenient transportation and wonderful colleagues not only enable the research, but also make the journey enjoyable,” Zhou says.

All of Dr. Rafailovich’s student-researchers have a way to go on their scientific journeys and their individual paths to leadership, which of course have been unavoidably altered the great 2020 pandemic. But those journeys will benefit equally from SBU’s research infrastructure and the ThINC director’s steady hand, according to Wang.

“Dr. Rafailovich has been a great mentor,” he says. “(And) the AERTC provides us with the state-of-the-art equipment and technology for studying the essence of materials and helps us understand the principle behind the phenomena.

“We feel very supported to work on the Stony Brook campus.”