Apr 12 2010
The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering ("CNSE") of the University at Albany announced today that it has been selected to receive a prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation ("NSF") for a new initiative that will support the growth of green energy jobs and businesses across New York State by advancing nanotechnology-enabled innovations in clean and renewable energy technologies.
The $600,000 grant, provided through NSF's Partners in Innovation Program, will fund the "Collaboration to Leverage Energy and Nanotechnology" ("CLEAN"), spearheaded by CNSE's Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center ("E2TAC"), under the leadership of Dr. Pradeep Haldar, in partnership with Marist College.
The CLEAN program includes three key components: fostering critical information exchanges between academia and industry through a series of seminars, forums and workshops; expanding knowledge transfer through a platform of business incubation services, including technology commercialization assistance, business plan development, and market studies; and creating innovative workforce development programs, to include new opportunities for education, training and internships.
The goals of the CLEAN initiative include accelerating the development of advanced technologies for solar and fuel cells, ultracapacitors and other clean energy sources that improve efficiency while lowering costs; heightening the skills of technicians, engineers, and researchers engaged in green energy technologies; and creation of new jobs related to design, development, manufacture and sale of alternative energy products and services throughout upstate New York.
Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of CNSE, said, "This prestigious award from the National Science Foundation will allow the UAlbany NanoCollege to further deploy its world-class educational and technological capabilities to support the acceleration of clean and renewable energy technologies. I congratulate Dr. Haldar on the receipt of this grant, which underscores and enhances the critical role that nanotechnology-enabled innovations are playing in the growth of New York's emerging green collar economy."
Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Professor and Head of CNSE's Nanoengineering Constellation and Director of E2TAC, said, "I am delighted to receive this award through the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Innovation Program, which allows us to utilize the unparalleled resources of the NanoCollege to advance a host of vital alternative energy technologies. Working in collaboration with Marist College and a cadre of industrial partners, we look forward to driving new innovations, leading workforce development, and supporting information exchanges to further build the growing clean energy sector in New York State."
The goals of NSF's Partnerships for Innovation Program are to stimulate the transformation of knowledge created by the research and education enterprise into innovations that create new wealth, build strong local, regional and national economies, and improve the national well-being; broaden the participation of all types of academic institutions and all citizens in activities to meet the diverse workforce needs of the national innovation enterprise; and catalyze or enhance enabling infrastructure that is necessary to foster and sustain innovation in the long-term.