By Zachary Dodson

The Department of Chemistry and Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) at the University of Kentucky are always looking to infuse their research environments with new energy—and recent hire Chad Risko will do just that when he comes to campus this fall.

Risko received his PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he specialized in understanding structure-property relationships of organic-based materials. He went on to Northwestern University as a research fellow where he expanded his research interests to the study of hybrid interfaces. For the past five years, he worked as a Research Scientist at Georgia Tech.

“Dr. Risko comes from the world’s leading group in applying computation and theory to the design and analysis of carbon-based semiconductors,” said UK chemistry professor and CAER researcher, John Anthony.

Outside the classroom, Risko will work in CAER and apply his skills in materials theory and modeling to develop new understanding of those carbon-based semiconductors.

“His ability to simulate new materials on a computer will help those researchers who are trying to design new materials narrow in on promising targets,” said Anthony. “With the hire of Dr. Risko, we complete the much needed set of scientists to tackle really big problems in energy generation, storage and utilization.”

Risko was attracted to UK for its dynamic research environment and infrastructure, where his team of CAER researchers will study the properties of organic, carbon and hybrid materials for energy conversion and storage.

“The people and infrastructure at the University of Kentucky offer distinctive and substantial resources that will enable my group to flourish and expand into new research areas,” Risko said.

“He has a great deal of experience in studying the interfaces between different materials within electronic devices,” said Mark Meier, Department of Chemistry Chair. “He will fit nicely into this growing area of interest.”

Both Meier and Anthony expressed their excitement to have Risko on campus and look forward to working with him to explore and expand the ongoing research at the University of Kentucky.