🐻‍🔬 Cornell Professor Lena Kourkoutis, PhD ’09, passed away age 44, I attended her…

🐻‍🔬 Cornell Professor Lena Kourkoutis, PhD ’09, passed away age 44, I attended her Memorial Symposium over the weekend, her research collaborators and students shared stories about her wonderful research and mentorship. Lena was a professor in Applied and Engineering Physics (AEP), an expert on Cryogenic Electron Microscopy, where samples are freezed down to -193 degrees celcius with liquid nitrogen, to maintain the molecular structure, to be looked at by the electron microscope. For example, when a battery is charged, the material heats up and breaks apart, leading to less battery capacity over time (limited charge cycles), so by freezing it mid-breaking, Cryogenic Electron Microscopy can see how the material breaks, so material scientists can design better battery materials. In addition to being a wonderful researcher, Lena was also a wonderful mentor to the next generation - a student said Lena’s intro to engineering nanoscience course was so fascinating, she turned her major to AEP - another student said the AEP major was very difficult, and she only stayed and completed the major, because of Lena’s help - another student researched in Lena’s lab, and Lena showed her how fun research is, and she got her PhD and became a professor as a result - another student posted anonymously on Reddit, about having difficulties with AEP, and Lena made a Reddit account, so she could reply and encourage the student to reach out to her I studied Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell, I really loved the major, because the courses were so rigorous, yet the people were so kind. It is the best academic environment, and Lena really embodied it, as a PhD researcher, as the director of undergraduate studies, and as a professor.