ARI: Sustainable Energy Laboratory

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Under this award, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), College of Engineering (COE), will create a Sustainable Energy Laboratory (SEL) for fundamental research in new high-risk science and engineering that will lead to critical breakthroughs in sustainable energy-related technologies and materials. The majority of the 9,163 square feet of space to be renovated in the 1963-built Dougherty Engineering Building to create the SEL was damaged by fire in 2006 and is currently undergoing a $5.7 million renovation, which brings the building up to code and allows the renovations under this award. Recently, UTK has aggressively positioned itself to tackle the issues of energy science and engineering by creating the Sustainable Energy Education and Research Center (SEERC), securing an NSF IGERT grant entitled Sustainable Technology through Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (STAIR), hiring new faculty with research expertise in sustainable energy, and creating a state-funded $30 million Solar Institute and a $45 million Bioenergy Center. Intellectual Merit: The SEL renovation will provide the necessary infrastructure to perform future research activities conducted by a team of 14 faculty researchers and more than 50 students and post doctoral researchers in an environment that will allow highly collaborative and synergetic activities leading to significant scientific and technological contributions. Specifically, the SEL will significantly enhance the ability of UTK faculty and students to engage in cutting edge sustainable energy related 21st century research that has been significantly restrained due to outdated and obsolete research laboratories. The grant will provide hundreds of linear feet of flexible casework, a half dozen acid fume hoods, hydrogen safety systems, and other fixed equipment. This renovation will transform some of the most unpleasant, unproductive laboratory space in the college into valuable, information-generating research areas to finally enable breakthroughs in sustainable energy research. The dedicated SEL on campus will greatly advance research flexibility and research training capabilities. The SEL will focus on four major research thrust areas: (1) characterization and measurement functions, (2) energy conversion and storage, (3) advanced vehicle systems, and (4) renewable power generation. The common thematic thread linking these areas is their connection to end-use sustainable energy technologies. Each thrust area is divided into subtasks with a highly qualified team of senior researchers, post-doctoral research associates, and graduate students. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts will be leveraged by aligning SEL research activities with the STAIR IGERT grant that has well-established programs currently in place. The STAIR program has implemented a comprehensive approach relative to education, outreach, and the inclusion of under-represented groups in the context of sustainable energy. These activities include: (1) a focused effort to encourage participation in sustainable energy science in grades K-12, including outreach to regional school teachers and high and middle school students, (2) efforts to encourage participation of under-represented minorities in sustainable energy-related opportunities, including recruiting summer students from the COE's Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP) program, which is geared toward African-American, Hispanic-American and Native-American students, and coordinating with the COE's DOE-funded Pipeline Engineering Diversity Program (PEDP) program, (3) efforts to involve undergraduate students in research through research assistantships, undergraduate research courses taken as electives, and volunteer positions, and (4) outreach activities that include workshops to elementary school students at the American Museum of Science and Energy and staffing the summer Materials Camp offered to local high school students.