Achievement

Because of funding through his IGERT traineeship, Mike Gasda had more freedom to choose an advisor and a project that aligned with his interests. Rather than choosing an advisor/topic dictated by a research grant/contract, this freedom allowed him to explore a topic unencumbered by the pressures graduate students typically are under when working on usual research grants and/or contracts. He eventually worked on developing nanorods as fuel cell electrodes grown by glancing angle deposition (GLAD). Applying the principles of thin film growth to electrochemistry, which are very different fields, has been at the center of his research. Because of this freedom, he has been very active in incorporating interdisciplinary activities in his research, something that probably would not have been possible on a narrow, funding-source driven research project.