Omar Kazi, a visiting graduate student from the University of Chicago at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering division, was recently awarded the Science Olympiad Alumni Research (SOAR) grant. The grant includes $25,000 from the Science Olympiad USA Foundation for Science Olympiad alumni doing breakthrough research at U.S. universities.

At Argonne, Kazi works alongside Advanced Energy Technologies Chief Science and Technology Officer Seth Darling, who also serves as director of the laboratory’s Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems Center. In this role, Kazi’s work focuses on interfacial solar steam generation, a process that uses porous photothermal materials to convert sunlight to heat for water purification and resource recovery. He will use the SOAR grant for equipment such as an infrared thermal camera, computers, modeling software licenses, thermocouples and hygrometers to be used as he continues this research.

Science Olympiad is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing opportunity and diversity in science, creating a technologically-literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers. The organization runs STEM competitions for K-12 students across the nation.

Read more about the Science Olympiad USA Foundation and other awardees.