Vote Now! Materials Video Enters Thinkable Competition

Marquardt

University of Maryland graduate student Amy Marquardt (Department of Materials Science and Engineering [MSE]) is in the running for Thinkable’s Open Innovation Award, in which participants must describe their research and what makes it unique and important in a three-minute video. The winner of the competition will receive $5000 in research funding.

Marquardt, a member of Professor Ray Phaneuf’s (MSE) research group, uses nanotechnology–specifically, atomic layer deposition–to create coatings that can be used to protect silver art and artifacts. The coatings are mere atoms thick, invisible, and last up to 15 times longer than the nitrocellulose coatings currently used on silver heritage objects. The Walters Art Museum, located in Baltimore, Md., is currently testing the coating on a plate from a late 15^th century processional cross.

Marquardt has already received numerous awards for her work, including top prizes in the international Three-Minute Thesis Competition, Diamond Ranking by the American Ceramic Society, the Clark School’s Dean’s Doctoral Research Award, and one of the first Big Ten CIC-Smithsonian Fellowships.

Watch Amy Marquardt's video »

To vote, visitors to the site must join Thinkable (free).

Thinkable has created a community in which scientists can share information about their work with members the public, who can in turn track the progress of projects they like by becoming “fans” of a lab or research group. In addition to receiving customized updates, fans can also sponsor their favorite work through donations.

“Scientific research grants are either restricted by geography or field, and selected via hidden panels behind closed doors,” Thinkable explains on its web site. “The Thinkable Innovation Award is a research grant that is open to all researchers in any field around the world and awarded openly by allowing Thinkable researchers and members to vote on their favourite idea.”

Watch Amy Marquardt's video »

Published March 9, 2015