June 30, 2025
University of Washington (UW) graduate students Connor Dalton and Alison Wang received the 2026 Clean Energy Student Achievement Awards from the UW Clean Energy Institute (CEI) at its annual end-of-year seminar on May 28.
Scientific Achievement
The Clean Energy Scientific Achievement Award recognizes UW graduate students who have demonstrated extraordinary productivity in clean energy research and scholarship, and have contributed meaningfully to the scientific community.
Connor Dalton
Connor Dalton, a chemistry doctoral student advised by Professor Douglas A. Reed and a CEI Graduate Fellow, received the 2025–26 Clean Energy Scientific Achievement Award. They were recognized for pioneering research in the field of porous perovskites: a broad class of materials that are used in cutting-edge solar cells, LEDs, sensors, and catalysts. The porosity of a perovskite has substantial impacts on its optical, magnetic, and conductive properties, which underlie new technologies. Dalton has published articles in Chemical Science and the Journal of the American Chemical Society detailing the novelty of these structures and use in low-energy hydrogen liquefaction.
“As a fourth-year graduate student, Connor has already made significant contributions to the field of clean energy and has set a high standard in the cohort,” said Reed, who is a CEI Member Faculty. “Along with their leadership in my group, Connor has also been a mentor to other clean energy researchers, including many of my graduate students and a visiting undergraduate student from Pierce College who has since transferred to the UW.”
“CEI has been a factor in my time as a grad student from the start,” said Dalton. “I first volunteered for the CEI City Planners Summer Camp in 2022, then I became a Grad Fellow in 2023. The following summer, I mentored a student through the Clean Energy Bridge to Research program for undergrads, and I got to participate in the ORCAS conference in my hometown of Bainbridge Island. And this past year, I learned a lot by working with E8 through the Torrance Tech Due Diligence program.”
Dalton’s more recent work focuses on introducing semiconducting and magnetic characteristics into perovskites using intercalation chemistry, where ions or molecules filter in and out of the pores or layers of a material without altering its crystal structure — a fundamental advance for perovskites that could enable new applications. Dalton will graduate in June 2027.
“One of the really cool things I’ve been able to do is start a lab and grow it,” said Dalton. “It was just me and Doug when I started my Ph.D. and now we have 8 members. I’m grateful for the support I’ve had from everyone in the group, and I’d also like to thank my roommates Adrian Guerrero, Julisa Juarez, Khoa Ngo, and Sherman Kho for letting me bounce ideas off them, listening and helping with work, and keeping me grounded—Julisa and Khoa are Grad Fellows from David Ginger’s group and Adrian is in Dianne Xiao’s group!”
Community Engagement & Service
The Clean Energy Community Engagement & Service Award recognizes graduate students who have demonstrated dedication and creativity when engaging a variety of audiences in STEM. This award is decided by CEI staff who work closely with CEI graduate students participating in public engagement in all settings, from classrooms to community centers.
Alison Wang
Alison Wang, a chemistry doctoral student advised by Professor Dianne Xiao and a CEI Graduate Fellow, received the 2025–26 Clean Energy Community Engagement & Service Award.
“Alison went above and beyond as a Clean Energy Ambassador,” said CEI Associate Director of Education & Workforce Engagement Danica Hendrickson. “Through nine different events — far exceeding the program requirement — she connected with audiences ranging from elementary and middle school students to high schoolers, teachers, and undergrads. Her approachable and accessible engagement style gets students excited about STEM and fosters inclusion throughout our community.”
For her “Broader Impacts of Clean Energy” capstone project with CEI, Wang worked closely with middle and high school teachers from the Goldendale school district in south-central WA throughout the 2025–26 academic year to integrate clean energy concepts into their STEM classes, designing lesson plans that were tailored to their learning goals. For Goldendale, this involved doing some of CEI’s clean energy classroom activities such as building solar cars and circuits, as well as explaining energy transfer and connecting it to the local wind and solar farms and the nearby dam.
Wang co-led CEI’s three-day outreach visit to Goldendale MS/HS in early March, where she also presented her research in relation to clean energy frontiers: using small molecules and macrocycles to better understand electrochemical carbon capture.
“Working on climate tech is challenging — there’s a lot of bad news that can be discouraging, so I try to spread the good news when I visit K-12 classrooms,” said Wang. “It’s more important than ever to stay optimistic about finding solutions.”
Nominations for the 2026–27 Clean Energy Student Scientific Achievement Award will open in spring 2027. UW students who are interested in K–12 STEM engagement can become Clean Energy Ambassadors by emailing cei-outreach@uw.edu. WA teachers interested in integrating clean energy into their STEM curricula can explore CEI’s K-12 lesson plans and resources or learn more by emailing cei-outreach@uw.edu.
