Project: Advanced Materials to Enable Hydrogen as Fuel

Gary Ong holds a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Focusing on ion transport materials in his doctoral studies, he built a variable temperature and environmental platform to study the ion transport properties of porous ceramics and composites. On the side, he also fabricated novel composite structures using nanoscale directed assembly of nanocrystals and studied the surface chemistry of metal oxide ceramics. The confluence of ion transport, assembly, and surface chemistry yielded fruit when they came together to yield a new transport material that promises new more efficient energy technology devices. In 2018, he cofounded Celadyne Technologies Inc. with his advisor Delia Milliron to validate and build this discovery towards commercialization.

Gary has helped set up a full-scale chemistry research laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, renovated houses with Habitat for Humanity, and built a solar car with CalSol at UC Berkeley. He was the recipient of the Berkeley materials science departmental citation, and the NSF graduate fellowship. He is passionate about technology, especially in the materials sciences because of the significant impact they can have on key issues like energy, water security, and human health. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the piano, cooking for his friends, swimming, and reading nonfiction books.