UNC Asheville Chemistry Professor wins award to create Plant-Based Semiconductors for Solar-Powered Space Agriculture

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – December 17, 2025 – UNC Asheville today announced that Jeromy Rech, Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor, won an individual $60,000 grant from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement for his project Engineering Plant-Based Semiconductors for Solar-Powered Space Agriculture. The aim of his research is to create a complete recycling system for biopolymers with applications on Earth and in space.

Rech and his collaborators will use these materials to synthesize specialty plastics which can be used in making semitransparent solar panels. These lightweight solar panels can be directly integrated into greenhouses to help provide the required energy to grow more plants and afford extra green and renewable energy.

Rech is the only research fellow from a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) out of the 68 early career faculty fellows participating in this Scialog initiative. Additionally, UNC Asheville is the only institution carrying the “Research Colleges and Universities” designation through the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education; with the 12 other universities to receive this funding coming from “R1: Doctoral Universities – very high research spending and doctorate production.”

The project, funded by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and The Kavli Foundation fund team awards for cross-disciplinary projects to investigate how to design, manufacture, and recycle materials. This funded project is a collaboration between the Rech Research Lab, Barros Lab (University of Missouri), and Rorrer Lab (University of Washington).

Rech joined UNCA in 2023 after finishing an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Stanford University through the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He was drawn to teaching at UNC Asheville because of the University’s commitment to providing undergraduate students with hands-on research experiences. “Students shouldn’t have to wait until graduate school to conduct research – with mentoring and access to the best research technology and equipment, undergraduates can make major scientific breakthroughs,” said Rech. This project is just one example.

About UNC Asheville
Founded in 1927, UNC Asheville is a proud member of the University of North Carolina System. With award-winning faculty, small class sizes, and 60+ academic programs in the natural sciences, human sciences, humanities, arts, and social sciences, the University is recognized for its robust paid internship programs to prepare students to immediately enter the workforce. In the US News & World Report 2025 edition of Best Colleges, UNC Asheville is ranked No. #9 in Top Public Schools, and No. #7 in Princeton Review’s 2025 Top 50 Guide to Green Colleges. Known as the Bulldogs, UNC Asheville student-athletes compete in 16 NCAA Division I Teams in the Big South Conference. For more information, please visit: www.unca.edu.

About Scialog Grants
The competitive grants were awarded to eight cross-disciplinary teams of early career researchers in the second year of Scialog: Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials (SM3), a three-year initiative catalyzing cutting-edge basic science to address how we acquire, use, and recycle the critical materials that sustain our high-tech society. The 18 individual awards of $60,000 in direct costs will go to 17 scientists from colleges, universities, and research institutions in the United States. (One researcher is on two teams, while another project includes two as unfunded collaborators.)