Background:
Dr. Edwards has a joint appointment between the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Chemistry on the IUB campus. Dr. Edwards teaches undergraduate courses in environmental science, environment and people, techniques in environmental sciences, a graduate course in environmental chemistry and general chemistry. He is also a member of the American Chemical Society
As a member of the faculty in the department of chemistry, one of my goals is to increase and enhance the retention of traditionally under represented students in the area of science. A mechanism that is place to do so is the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. This is a mentoring program and it is based on the willing participation of faculties. A student who has an interest is doing research in an area of their interest is paired with a cooperating faculty member for the purpose of gaining research experience. The faculty in return will take an interest in that student's future by developing a faculty/mentor relationship. Being a mentor takes work so there are mechanisms in place that are designed to help faculties and students build a successful faculty/mentor relationship. This relationship will accomplish the goal of increasing and enhancing the retention of our traditionally under represented students in the area of science, here at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana.
Research Interest:
My research interests lies in the area of fabricating and characterizing metal alloys designed to store hydrogen gas as a solid. Hydrogen gas stored as a solid is better known as metal hydrides. Metal hydrides cover a broad range of applications, one of which is a portable source of hydrogen that can be included in the design of fuel cells. In order to be a good storage medium, metal hydrides must possess properties such as low dissociation pressures and small positive enthalpy change (ΔH). Those properties are important for storage and future liberation of hydrogen gas when needed. Hydrogen gas will be the choice fuel in the future and the fabrication of metal alloys for the purpose of storing hydrogen gas will play a significant role in the advancement of fuel cell technology.
