Chemistry graduate student Ricardo Rivera-Maldonado and co-worker Miguel González Montijo developed a bilingual English/Spanish climate science fact sheet, for which the Clean Energy Institute awarded them the Clean Energy Outreach & Service Award on May 26, 2022.
The fact sheet "aims to empower K-12 students to discuss climate change and clean energy with their families and communities" and is the Clean Energy Institute's first Spanish-language learning resource.
Ricardo Rivera-Maldonado, a chemistry graduate student in the research group of Professor Brandi Cossairt and 2021-22 CEI Graduate Fellow, develops nanoparticle electrocatalysts that can reduce the climate impacts of the chemical industry, when paired with renewable energy generation and earth-abundant reagent materials. Rivera-Maldonado’s electrocatalyst nanoparticles can be utilized to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases, along with other industrially-relevant reactions that require the chemical removal of hydrogen atoms.
As a 2022-23 CEI Education & Training Fellow, Rivera-Maldonado will plan and lead outreach visits to Washington state K-12 schools and science fairs and assist in the development of K-12 clean energy lesson plans and resources along Next Generation Science Standards.
“During CEI outreach visits, we saw firsthand how young students are eager to learn about climate change and clean energy,” said Rivera-Maldonado. “We put ourselves in their shoes when thinking of ideas for our new resource: what tools could a K-12 student use to make a difference on climate change? With our multilingual fact sheet, we hope to empower young people to communicate with their communities.”
For more about the Clean Energy Student Achievement Awardees, including Rivera-Maldonado's co-worker González Montijo, see the CEI news post from July 28, 2022, from which this post was adapted.