Monthly Archives: February 2021

PA Invention Convention High School Competition

Two high school students from Pennsylvania contacted MSU Bioeconomy Institute’s Director of R and D, Dr. Thomas Guarr, for help with designing a “bio-battery” for the PA Invention Convention competition.

*** 1st Place !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!****

Hi Dr. Guarr,

Hope you are doing well. The results for the competition we submitted our battery system to came backAND WE GOT FIRST PLACE!!! We are beyond elated and excited, and we could not have done this without your help and guidance. Thanks to you we were able to understand the interesting field of electrochemistry and learn how to use Spartan. We are extremely grateful for your time, patience, and understanding during this venture. The advice you gave us and the opportunities they provided will always be with us even after the competition is over. The next step is nationals, which would have been in Michigan if COVID was not here. Regardless, we are ready to tackle the next round!!

Thank you for everything.

Michael Giurini

This begins another round of introducing the present researchers that are part of our lab.  Michael has been part of the OESL team since summer of 2019.  He graduated from Hope College with a degree in Biochemical Engineering.  His synthesis skills and his electrochemistry skills have become very strong.  He is the most experienced researcher on the team now and has mentored the rest of our researchers on their projects and lab equipment.  Thanks for sticking with us Michael.  Exciting things are happening in our lab and we are happy to have you be a part of it.