Engineer harnesses magnetism to drive alternative energy source
NSF CAREER Award funds research on energy conversion materials
Sarah Watzman, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, is utilizing energy conversion principles to gain fundamental information about a recently discovered class of materials. She received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to fund this project for the next several years.
Sarah Watzman is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing + Communications
As a high school student with an interest in math and science, Watzman recalls the moment she decided to become an engineer. Her physics teacher took the class to a seminar where engineers shared insights into their careers and their various projects. One speaker, who focused on alternative energy, described how engineers can make a substantial impact in that field. From that day on, Watzman set her mind to becoming an engineer and changing the landscape of alternative energy.
Completing her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at The Ohio State University in mechanical engineering, Watzman found a passion for research as an undergraduate student. During her bachelor's program, she began conducting research with Professor Joseph Heremans, a faculty member who eventually became her doctoral adviser.
"I hadn't really thought about becoming a faculty member after graduation, I thought I would go back to industry," Watzman said. "But I realized I didn't like being limited to what research I was told I could do, and becoming faculty was the way to decide for myself."
She joined the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at UC in 2018, doing research as well as teaching classes. Broadly, Watzman's work focuses on studying materials that have the potential to convert thermal energy to electricity. Within this realm of work, her area of expertise is utilizing magnetism to control and enhance this energy conversion.
"The core of what I do is looking at something that heats up or is hot on one side and cold on the other and figuring out how to harness that heat into electricity, making the thermal energy something usable," Watzman said.
With this thermal energy, there is a directional flow associated with it. Typically, the directionality between heat flow and electric current are linked, but in her lab, she and her team use external magnetic fields to decouple the electric and heat flows in an attempt to control and enhance the energy conversion. When in control of the directionality, scientists have much more freedom when designing an energy conversion device.
Sarah Watzman received the NSF CAREER Award to fund her research on topological materials. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing + Communications
For the CAREER Award, Watzman is studying a class of materials called topological materials — which conduct electricity differently on their surface than in their interior. These materials were discovered only about a decade ago, and researchers are still working to understand their behavior.
"There is a lot we still don't know about topological materials, and a lot of that information is necessary to be able to translate them from being interesting in a lab setting to being usable in a consumer application," Watzman said.
She is exploring three aspects of the materials: thickness dependency, anisotropy — which is the structural property of a material in different directions — and new magnetic phases of the material.
For consumer devices, thinner is better. But thinning a material can change its properties. Watzman and her team are exploring the thickness dependence of the energy conversion properties to see how thin the materials can be while still maintaining the desired transport effects.
Specific materials may have strong conduction or magnetism in one direction, such as from north to south, but weak conduction or magnetism from east to west. She is exploring the anisotropy of these materials and their potential to enhance or inhibit conversion between heat and electricity.
Finally, Watzman's team is attempting to uncover new magnetic phases that they think exist in a specific class of materials, one that could hold powerful applications for quantum computing and spintronics, which use magnetic properties to store and process information.
Sarah Watzman is studying the thickness dependence, anisotropy, and magnetic phases of small materials. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing + Communications
"Quantum computers are a big thing right now. They're more efficient than what we use currently, can store more information on a smaller level, and some of these materials have quantum effects that could potentially be used to make the circuitry smaller in quantum computers," she said.
In each CAREER Award, there is an educational component coupled with the research. Watzman is partnering with Black Box Dance Theatre to visualize the fundamental principles of the physics behind her work through dance. After concepts are identified and choreography is created, a series of dance videos will be filmed, providing a visual, movement-based method to learn about physics.
"I danced competitively through high school, so this project allows me to combine my active passion from when I was younger with my research career passion, and I'm really excited to try it," she said.
The dance company will come to campus for a weeklong experience to work with Watzman's team to discuss the concepts and the science to inform the choreography. Once it is developed, her team of graduate students will use it to teach local high school students, getting feedback on the initial content. Down the line, Watzman will work with Melissa Jacquart, PhD, associate director for UC's Center for Public Engagement with Science, to develop the program into an honors seminar.
"I'm hoping this will offer a new method of learning hard concepts and make them more approachable to a wider audience. Hopefully, we can attract students not just from STEM but from other disciplines like humanities or the College Conservatory of Music," she said.
Her motivation comes from both her research and her students. She finds inspiration in collaborating with graduate students in the lab and supporting their ideas. In the classroom, she's energized by teaching undergraduate students and seeing their excitement as they grasp new concepts.
"I love being able to learn from my own students," she said. "To watch them go from not totally knowing what they're doing when they start out, to seeing them develop into independent-thinking scientists."
Featured image at top: Sarah Watzman is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing + Communications
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