A University of Cincinnati and University of Bordeaux

Student Collaboration on Energy and Water Sustainability

Kelsey Albright,1 Sarah Braley,1 Gary Bown,1 Grace Buckey,1 Jessica Burke,1 Valentin Chamard,2 Xavier Chudeau,2 Maxime Dottor,2 Ethan Ferguson,1 Vincent Fericelli,2
Gatan Roudier,2 Alberta Negri,1 Ilan Perez,2 Michael Sarama,1 Clmence Soule,2 Marjolaine Thomas,2 Jean-Louis Bobet,2 Hairong Guan,1 William B. Connick1
1

University of Cincinnati, 2 University of Bordeaux

Introduction

Approach Continued

Conclusion

International collaboration is increasingly relevant in the

rapidly globalizing scientific community.
more than 20% of extant scientific papers authored in the
past 10 years required international collaboration 1
papers with at least one global collaborator had double the
number of citations,2 which is a frequent measure of both
quality and relevance in a scientific publication.

Students then selected a subtopic within these fields. The selected topics were organic photovoltaics (OPV) and inorganic
photovoltaics (IPV) for the green energy group and lead pollution and lead remediation for the clean water group.
Students further self-segregated to form four groups, consisting of two UC and two UB students per group.
The teams conducted a literature review and collaborated to prepare presentations on their findings.
The UC students traveled to Bordeaux on March 19-27, 2016. Each of the four groups presented their findings at the 4th Annual
Chemistry University of Bordeaux Chemistry Symposium.
May 19-26, 2015, the UB students will visit Cincinnati to participate in the ACS Central Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

We were successful in creating a truly collaborative science

project between U.S. and French undergraduate students.
The topics of energy and water sustainability were found to
be especially relevant because these are complex problems
requiring global solutions. Students enthusiastically bridged
geographic and cultural divides in order to successfully
develop a cohesive presentation on their findings. Students
were able to achieve a deeper understanding of energy and
water sustainability and comment on the feasibility of current
strategies. The students reported significant personal growth,
increased confidence and deeper appreciation of their
counterparts culture. The students also reported a greater
understanding of the challenges and strategies for
successfully executing international collaborations in science.

Because global collaboration on scientific research is integral

to complex problem solving, we are developing strategies to
incorporate international collaboration into undergraduates
training. The goal is to help prepare undergraduate students
for the global collaboration imperative to modern day careers
in STEM fields
In the project describe here, 8 University of Cincinnati (UC)
students collaborated with 8 University of Bordeaux (UB)
students on literature research projects focused on problems
in the areas of energy and water sustainability.
The students formed 4 groups, each composed of 2 U.S.
students and 2 French students. The students collaborated
remotely to prepare a joint presentation. They presented and
defended their findings at the 4th Annual Chemistry
University of Bordeaux Chemistry Symposium on March 22,
2016. This poster describes the collaborations and the topics
investigated.
Energy and Water Sustainability remains one of the largest,
most complex issues facing our planet, and the problem is
exacerbated by rapid population growth.
Remediation of contaminated groundwater directly effects
billions of people per year
Lead pollution has led to diseases that affect over 1 million
people per year.
Solar energy is a clean, sustainable, cheap energy source
which could make electricity accessible to a growing
population

Figure 3. Photovoltaic
solar cells3

Findings

International Collaboration
The students were successful in overcoming language and cultural barriers in order to work together.
The experience enhanced communication skills of all students and significantly broadened their horizons.
The students reported personal growth and enhanced self confidence because of their success in tackling complex, multi-faceted
problems and initiating and executing group collaboration despite language, cultural and geographical challenges.
The students reported an enhanced appreciation of their counterparts culture.
Participants honed their skills in addressing complex problems and flexibility to adapt to and incorporate multiple vantage points to
C.
D.
achieve comprehensive understanding B.
A.

Figure 9. University of Cincinnati students and faculty

members outside of a chemistry teaching laboratory at the
University of Bordeaux.

Future Work
Figure 5. A. UB and UC students presenting their findings at The University of Bordeaux Chemistry Symposium. B. Collaboration of UB and UC students.
C. Lab Visits of UC students to the UB Chemistry Department. D. Examples of cultural exchange and appreciation gained for UC students Top: Traditional
French cuisine cooked by UB students. Bottom: Places des Quinconces, Bordeaux France

Solar Energy
Currently IPV, or silicon based solar cells, leads the industry in
efficiency and application with efficiencies exceeding 25% 8
Single crystalline silicon structure most popular of all PV cell
types. However polycrystalline cells exhibit the highest overall
efficiency8.
OPVs are cheaper, extremely flexible alternative PVs which
present a promising novel solution to the extant problems of
counterpart IPVs.

Figure 4. Sypmtoms of
Poryphoria, a disease caused by
lead in water supplies4

Lead Pollution and Remediation in Water

One group examined research on lead pollution and its
effect on wild fish populations. Significant findings include
the observation that increases in the lead concentrations in
fish has been directly linked to enzyme inhibition, muscular
deterioration, and death.
Physical-chemical treatment for lead poisoned water is a
feasible future solution to lead contamination in water. It can
accommodate variable input loads and flow; it requires less
space.
Current drawbacks include high operational costs and highenergy consumption

Approach
UC and UB faculty selected 16 volunteers in the sciences
respectively from the University of Cincinnati and the
University of Bordeaux. There were 8 students from each
university, 7 female and 9 male students aged 18-30.
Fourteen students were chemistry majors, and 2 were
biology majors. They were in their first to fourth year of
university study.
The faculty randomly assigned students to two groups
consisting of four UC students and four UB students per
group. Each group was assigned a current global scientific
topic to research --clean water or green energy.
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN 2015

www.PosterPresentations.com

Figure 7. Poly(phenylene
vinylene), a common OPV
Material

In continuing studies we hope to:

Build on this program to make this opportunity available to
future undergraduates.
Expand this program to include laboratory-based research
projects.

References
(1) http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind10/
(2) Narin F, Stevens K, Whitlow E. Scientific co-operation in
Europe and the citation of multinationally authored papers.
Scientometrics. 1991;21(3):31323.
(3) http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/PV/photovoltaic.jpg
(4)
http://ashlandscience.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Cutaneous_Porphyri
a_%28Vampires_Disease%29
(5) http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/materials-science/organicelectronics/opv-tutorial.html
(6) https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4RQ3R_watertreatment-plant
(7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion-exchange_resin
(8) 4 Green, M. A.; Emery, K., Solar cell efficiency tables,
Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl., Wiley, 2015, 24, pp 3-11.

Acknowledgements
Figure 6. General Scheme of Solar Cell5.

Figure 8. Single Crystalline

(left) versus Polycrystalline
(right) Silicon PV cell structure8.

Figure 7. Water Potabilization

Treatment6.

Figure 8. Ion Exchange Resin

for effective lead removal7

We thank the University of Cincinnati and University of

Bordeaux for their generous support.