~ May 18, 2020 ~

Amnon Ortoll-Bloch is a doctoral candidate in chemistry and chemical biology from Colima City, Colima, Mexico. After earning his bachelor’s degree at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, Mexico, he chose to pursue further study at Cornell due to its faculty, research opportunities, and collaborative and supportive nature.

What is your area of research and why is it important?

My research focuses on the crystallization of a family of materials called hybrid perovskites. These materials are promising candidates for solar-cell applications because they are cheaper to make than current technologies. Perovskite solar cells consist of crystalline films that are made from solution. I investigate what happens once you dissolve the starting materials and how the dissolved components come together to form a crystal. By understanding how these materials crystallize, we can control the quality and properties of the resulting crystalline films to ultimately make more efficient solar cells.

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What have you gained by participating in the NextGen Professors Program?

I have gained a sense of community with the members of the NextGen Professors Program. We all care for each other and want one another to succeed. By engaging in enriching discussions, I have learned from the other members of the cohort as well as from guests that have shared their experiences with us. This program has taught me about different perspectives on how to tackle current challenges in academia as well how to work on ourselves to avoid self-sabotaging behavior. […]

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