Marie Turano, a 5th year PhD student, is a finalist for the AVS Morton M. Traum Surface Science Student Award.

Marie Turano a 5^th year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, is a finalist for the 2020 AVS Surface Science Division Morton M. Traum Student Award.  Marie is one of four finalists for this prestigious, international award for the top student in surface science.  Marie is a student in Dr. Killelea’s group, and her research is focused on understanding how catalytically active metal surfaces evolve with oxygen concentration.  Marie’s work has discovered the presence of multiple reaction mechanism for CO oxidation by coadsorbed O and CO on Rh(111), and has identified  a clear X-Ray photoelectron feature for the presence of subsurface oxygen in both Ag(111) and Rh(111), in collaboration with Argonne National Lab.  Marie is presently leading a collaborative project with colleagues at Leiden University in The Netherlands to investigate how O-induced surface reconstructions are hindered by how the Ag atoms are arranged on the surface and the number of atoms in flat terraces between single-atom high steps on curved single crystal Ag(111) surfaces.  Marie is a 2020-21 Arthur J. Schmitt Dissertation fellow and received the Teaching Scholars fellowship for the 2019-20 academic year.  In addition to juggling research projects and mentoring undergraduate students, Marie still finds time to craft.