When Maddy Cooney ’26 was preparing to come to UVM, she wasn’t sure if she would major in Environmental Studies or Physics. The 20-year-old has a deep commitment to environmental efforts, but also a strong affinity for math and science.
Thanks to the Women in Science Fund that supports UVM female undergraduate students in scientific summer research, Maddy is engaged with a project that involves both. She is working in the Kozen lab to design and test a variety of semi-conductor materials for future use in solid-state batteries.
Maddy had learned that solid-state batteries are likely to be an important part of energy transitions towards sustainability. She was thinking about her own learning and career trajectory, about the priorities and needs of the Kozen lab, and about energy usage and sustainability as she proposed her summer’s focus.
In her project application, she wrote that her hope was to:
Develop processes that will help expand our understanding of solid-state batteries and increase their ultimate performance and efficiency. This will provide me with priceless hands-on learning and research experience in the realm of fabricating thin-film semiconductor test structures that will help prepare me for graduate school. This research will continue throughout my experience at UVM and possibly will carry over into graduate research.
From the Broad View to the Very Specific
As a Physics major, she is accustomed to thinking about the particularities of materials, how they interact – and how that can translate into real-world impacts.
This summer, she investigated the materials and their applications for creating a better energy future at a lab bench in an interior office in UVM’s Discovery Hall. Here’s how she described her work:
I take a little two-inch silicon wafer and I apply a chemical called Photoresist on top. (When in contact with ultraviolet light, its chemical bonds weaken.) When they weaken, they become soluble, and then when they are put into the chemical we call ‘the developer’ those bonds will wash away, and leave only what hasn't been in contact with the UV light. So basically I make these designs on an engineering website called K Layout, and I upload them onto this machine and I put in my little substrate that's been coated with my photo resist, and basically it will apply UV light specifically based off of my design to the places that I want to be gone. And I'll be left with a mold of exactly my design to thickness that I want. And then we go in and, layer by layer, we put different metals in. What you're left is with a little mold and you can put on any metal that you want and you have it in the exact shape that you want to a very, very precise, very, very small degree.
The results of each test are recorded, and she analyzes the results to understand those variations. Excitingly for a scientist like Maddy, the results included some enigmatic data.
I noticed something interesting with the machine where every single time something is, because I've graphed the results a couple times, and the second dose that I do, I basically do it in steps. So this one will be for, if you have a grid, this will be 0.05 seconds. That's the amount of time, then another will be 0.06, 0.07, 0.18. And the second one, every time, has been more exposed than I expected, based off the pattern.
While she was trying to track down an answer, she enjoyed the process and the uncertainty.
I emailed the company about it and they weren't quite sure what's going on either. Neither is the person who trained me. That's been kind of interesting. That's a detail that's been discovered, I think. I like it when maybe it's a classic physics thing, but I like it when something doesn't quite have an explanation because it leaves a lot of room for discovery.
The foundational learning and experimentation of the early summer led to more advanced investigation. Thanks to this summer funding, the department's support behind her, and her own work, Maddy is now a full member of the lab, working on electrical testing for the solid-state batteries the team will be developing. Maddy reflects,
There are many things that make cleaner energy options like solid-state batteries beneficial to society as a whole. Even though we know that, moving in that direction is difficult because the testing and optimizing for these kinds of things can be quite expensive. But once we get there, people are able to understand the importance of the work that we do now. It’s not so easy to see yet – and that’s why it's so important for donors like this one to be funding things like this project. This is what allows people to have the time to prove that these scientific discoveries are worth it.
This learning, and the possibility of a better energy future ahead, are made possible by one generous donor, a dedicated lab and department, and Maddy’s own curiosity and courage.
We asked what she might say to the donor if they were together. She thought for a moment and then said,
I really appreciate being given this opportunity, to be honest. When I first started studying physics, I didn't really think it was ever something that I would be taken seriously with. And this has honestly just been a dream so far. I know I'm not doing anything super crazy, but it feels like my career is really taken off in a way that I didn't think it was going to be able to so fast.And I think that's entirely possible or made possible because of this person. So I would definitely be very, very thankful and also apologetic that they didn't feel like they were given these opportunities when they were in school. It's really something to feel like you weren't given something and make an effort to give it to other people. I think that's really brave. That's amazing.
Supporting Students at the University of Vermont
Whatever you care about, there are opportunities to support students, research, and experiences related to them at UVM. Learn more about areas to have an impact here or reach out to Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst at kmorgens@uvm.eduto start the conversation.
Maddy Cooney, Undergraduate Researcher and 2024 Recipient of the Women in Science Fund Award
Cheryl Carmi
August 20, 2024