James Wilson

James Wilson originally graduated from Northwestern University in 1999 with majors in Integrated Science and Mathematics.  Four years later, after a year abroad in New Zealand and a few years collecting a paycheck, he returned to Northwestern as a graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering department where he completed his Ph.D. in December of 2008.  His research focus was on solid oxide fuel cells, where he helped to develop a new technique to collect three-dimensional images of the structures of fuel cell electrodes.  This enabled researchers to better understand the connections between the processing of electrodes and how well they perform, hopefully allowing for cheaper and more efficient fuel cell production in the future.

Unable to tear himself away from Northwestern, James is currently conducting a one year post-doctorate research position furthering his dissertation work. In addition to his research, he is active in the new Northwestern Energy Technology Group (NETG), a graduate student group aimed at promoting awareness and discussion of various energy technologies, for which he has a great passion. While his enjoyment for skiing and mountaineering occasionally make him long for a mountainous skyline, most of his free time is spent enjoying all that the greatest city in America has to offer.