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UCLA Program to Train Future Leaders of Clean Technology
Diana Huffaker, professor of electrical engineering with a background in engineering physics and nanotechnology, is heading a five-year program to train future leaders in environmental energy. The program received $3 million in stimulus funds from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education Research Traineeship (IGERT). Professor Huffaker explained that participants in the fellowship will be in existing Ph.D. programs such as chemistry or engineering, and the graduates will have expertise in energy harvesting, energy storage and energy conservation. The curriculum of the IGERT fellowship will include a class on energy harvesting, by using solar cells, heat recovery and wind energy. There will also be a class on the economics and politics of climate change and the environment. In addition, there will be a lab course at a clean energy test facility. Professor Laurent Pilon , who researches ways to convert heat into energy and algae into fuel, will assist in developing the curriculum for the lab course. Professor Pilon stated that in addition to the IGERT funds, UCLA's Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science received funds from the Department of Energy for the Energy Frontier Center, which will use nanoscale materials to convert solar energy into electricity, store electrical energy, and capture and separate greenhouse gases.
UC San Diego and UC Davis Work Together to Promote Solar Energy
The University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Davis are working to gehter to further develop the use of solar energy in the state. The California Energy Commission provided a two-year grant in the amount of $700,000 to the two UC campuses to collect and analyze existing solar research. At UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, solar research is led by experts in photovoltaics, nanotechnology. and green computing and weather monitoring. The Jacobs School is the leader in installing photovoltaics on campus.
Photo Credit: Erik Jepson, UCSD Guardian
UC San Diego installed solar trees on the roofs
of two of its parking structures.
UC Davis is an international leader in various areas of enviromental research and edcation, which include renewable energy, climate change, sustainable agriculture, and energy efficiency and conservation.
