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NSF funds sustainable energy grad program
4:53 p.m., Nov. 9, 2006--A five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation is enabling a team of faculty at the University of Delaware to establish a new graduate program in sustainable energy from solar hydrogen. The award was made through NSF's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program. Led by Christiana Honsberg, UD associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, the solar hydrogen IGERT program involves 21 faculty from four of UD's seven colleges. In addition, there are three key partner organizations: the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of New South Wales and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The program will integrate relevant concepts from science, engineering, economics, and social sciences. “Renewable energy is an inherently multidisciplinary topic, and unfortunately that is what has hampered its implementation,” Honsberg said. “An environmentally and economically sustainable solar hydrogen system requires integration of policy, economics, systems, and components.” Solar hydrogen--hydrogen generated from solar-derived power such as photovoltaics or biomass--is one approach to the critical global need for a sustainable energy system. “It has attracted a great deal of interest because it uniquely addresses multiple aspects of the energy system,” Honsberg said. “For example, hydrogen can be used for transport, electricity or heat generation and energy storage.” The integrating theme driving the development of the new graduate program is the question of what needs to be done to implement a sustainable hydrogen economy using solar energy. “This question cannot be answered by improvements in a single component or single policy,” Honsberg said. “We have to provide our students with the multidisciplinary background needed to make the scientific and technical breakthroughs that will drive advances in energy conversion and storage. Just as important, we have to prepare them to provide the leadership that will ensure appropriate use of the technology.” Ultimately, the program will fund some 10 doctoral students and six or seven undergraduates each year. Master's degree students also will be involved but not funded directly by the IGERT program. “A major element of an integrated research and education program like this one is ensuring that the curriculum supports it,” Honsberg said. “We want to lower the barriers and create a curriculum that provides students with the fundamentals from a variety of areas without impacting the time it takes them to graduate.” To that end, a modular approach is proposed, with one-credit units offered in such subjects as solid-state physics, surface science, semiconductors, and economics and policy. Depending upon their backgrounds, students will have varying needs for the fundamental knowledge offered by these modules. The modules will be integrated in a problem-based learning class on solar hydrogen. The IGERT research program will focus on four major areas: photovoltaics and photoelectrochemistry, fuel cells, hydrogen storage, and policy and economics. “Our goal is for our students to be 'energy experts,' with a research focus in one area but the background, knowledge, and skills to draw from and interact with colleagues from multiple technical disciplines,” Honsberg said. Honsberg said she believes the IGERT program has the potential to evolve beyond the NSF award. “We want to get solar hydrogen up and running,” she said. “Ultimately, we want sustainable energy at the University of Delaware to be much bigger than the IGERT.” Article by Diane Kukich |
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