Summary of Studies for

Alexander Orlov, Fiessinger Scholarship Winner 2001

(Report - summer 2002)

Coming from the University of Michigan, United States, to Cambridge, United Kingdom, was quite an experience.  Over seven centuries old University, proud of being associated with the scientific accomplishments of such people as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, and over sixty Nobel Prize winners - this humbles you quite a lot.  You also realize where the roots of the American educational system are, as John Harvard, the first benefactor of Harvard University, was one of the famous alumni of Cambridge University.

This amazing reputation in Natural Sciences was one of the motivations of going from the Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, to the Chemistry Department in Cambridge, where my main focus is in Physical and Environmental Chemistry.  Nevertheless, my project is collaboration between Chemistry and Engineering Departments, so it is an interdisciplinary effort in both fundamental and applied research.

My current project is focused on the development of new catalysts for photocatalytic degradation of such groundwater pollutants as MTBE, and chlorophenols.  The project has two distinct areas:  firstly, it focuses on the application of new catalysts, such as titanium dioxide modified with metal nanoparticles; secondly, it focuses on developing a novel in-situphotocatalytic system.  It is work in progress, which started a little bit more than a year ago, and the on-going experiments are still trying to find a more active and stable catalyst than conventional catalysts.  One of the most exciting parts of the interdisciplinary research is a possibility to learn new techniques and methods.  Several surface science techniques I am working with are frequently employed for industrial catalyst development, but are not very common in the environmental engineering area.  Looking at these techniques from an engineering point of view gives me a unique opportunity to develop applications of them towards environmental issues.

I am very grateful to the Foundation, which made this incredible education experience possible.