The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Rutgers
University two grants worth $6.4 million to fund graduate research in clean
and sustainable energy resources using biotechnology and nanotechnology. The
foundation also has awarded the university up to $1.25 million to extend practices
developed under earlier NSF graduate research grants. These will benefit Rutgers
undergraduate and graduate students throughout the science, technology, engineering
and mathematics fields.
The grants for clean and sustainable energy research are funded under the NSF's
five-year Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program,
which supports scientists and engineers pursuing doctorates in fields that cross
academic disciplines and have broad societal impact. IGERT programs also involve
collaboration with other institutions and support training for underrepresented
minorities to enhance diversity in the science and engineering workforce.
Michael Pazzani, vice president for Research and Graduate and Professional
Education said the awards are the fifth and sixth IGERT grants NSF has awarded
Rutgers over the past six years. "Rutgers is one of few universities to
receive two IGERT grants in 2009," he said.
Nanotechnology for clean energy generation and storage:
Rutgers will collaborate with Princeton University to apply nanotechnology
to clean energy generation and storage and conduct an educational exchange program
between the U.S. and Africa. The grant is valued at up to $3.2 million over
five years.
"Nanotechnology is a burgeoning field of science and engineering that
involves materials and structures thousands of times smaller than the width
of a human hair," said Manish Chhowalla, professor of materials science
and engineering and the grant's principal investigator. He added that nanotechnology
can help boost the output and efficiency of solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells
and batteries so they can provide clean and abundant energy for transportation,
industries and homes.
Graduate students supported by IGERT fellowships will study policy and economic
issues related to clean energy development through the Edward J. Bloustein School
of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs at Princeton. Students will also participate in internships
and exchanges with African universities and institutions through Princeton's
US-Africa Materials Institute.
Renewable and sustainable fuels:
Rutgers will focus on replacing environmentally harmful fossil fuels with renewable,
economically sustainable fuels in collaboration with universities in the U.S.,
Brazil, China and South Africa. The grant is valued at up to $3.2 million over
five years.
"The development of biofuels and synfuels will require strategies adaptable
to locations worldwide with diverse climates and geopolitical structures,"
said Eric Lam, the grant's principal investigator and director of the Rutgers
Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment. Lam, who is also a
professor of plant biology and pathology, said the program will prepare experts
to shape America's future energy economy and policy by providing education in
biotechnology, chemistry, ecology, engineering and energy policy along with
real-world experience in government and industry.
Lam and his colleagues will collaborate with University of Puerto Rico and
two historically black universities, Virginia Union University and Delaware
State University. Extending ties established by the Rutgers Energy Institute,
the project also will involve Peking University and Academia Sinica Guangxi
in China; the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil; and, in South Africa, the University
of the Witwatersrand.
Strengthening graduate study in science, technology, engineering, math:
The third grant is funded under a new NSF initiative to strengthen science,
technology, engineering and mathematics education. Rutgers will use the five-year
NSF Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3) grant to extend its IGERT
curricula and practices to other graduate programs and to undergraduate research
supported by the Aresty Research Center for Undergraduates.
The I3 grant, valued at up to $1.25 million, will help Rutgers draw on the
experience and practices of its four established IGERT programs to enhance all
graduate programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Grant
funding also will be used to prepare students for higher education through undergraduate
research experiences and graduate school transition programs.
"Training a new generation of scientists is a widely recognized national
need," said Philip Furmanski, the grant's principal investigator and executive
vice president for Academic Affairs at Rutgers. "This grant will support
a new Graduate Innovation and Integration Center that will address student preparedness
for interdisciplinary endeavors while increasing diversity among our graduate
student population."
The new center will support and draw upon existing programs that provide summer
research experiences for undergraduates and that recruit and mentor students
from diverse backgrounds.
Posted August 31st, 2009N
