Viola Birss

Dr. Viola Birss is a Professor of Chemistry and the Scientific Director of Calgary Advanced Energy Storage and Conversion Research Technologies, having held a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Fuel Cells and Related Clean Energy Systems and leading the pan-Canadian Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Canada organization. She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious scientific awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society in the UK and Canada, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, and the Electrochemical Society, and is the author of over 300 refereed scientific publications. Her research involves improving the performance/lifetime of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells using nanoporous carbon scaffold materials developed in her group, the application of highly active mixed conducting perovskite catalysts that can split water and convert carbon dioxide to useful products in solid oxide electrolyzers, and the use of a range of structurally ordered nanomaterials for clean energy/environment applications.