In the Energy Lab on Case Quad, Burcu Gurkan is leading a team trying to solve some of society’s biggest challenges—including climate change. The U.S. Department of Energy is backing her efforts to filter carbon dioxide from the air with new techniques, because if her science succeeds, the world will be a cleaner, greener place.
More…A scientist for her times
Burcu Gurkan is a chemical engineer and the Nord Distinguished Associate Professor in the Case School of Engineering. In less than six years, she has gained a national profile as a highly cited scientist who attains coveted research grants. In 2021, the National Science Foundation awarded her an Early Career Development grant, its most distinguished award to junior faculty at research universities.
Much of her work addresses challenges of growing importance to humanity, which attracts top graduate students to her lab, the Energy Lab in the A.W. Smith Building, home to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her team’s primary focus is “carbon capture”—finding new and better ways to filter excess carbon dioxide from the air—on Earth and on space ships, which has NASA intrigued. She’s also at the vanguard of battery research and the quest to find a renewable source of energy.
Meanwhile, she’s a busy mom with two young children. She’s truly a scientist for her times.
Read more here: https://casealumni.org/stories/faculty/a-scientist-for-her-times/
