The Notre Dame extended Research Community (NDeRC) will gather education and research professionals for the fifth annual Collaborating for Education and Research Forum from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 25) in the Jordan Hall of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

The event fosters interaction among K-12 teachers and administrators; university faculty, graduate students and staff; and local industry specialists in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The forum showcases a broad spectrum of professional engagement opportunities for K-12 educators, including summer- or week-long opportunities in nanotechnology, genetics, embryonic development, environmental studies, astronomy, subatomic physics, engineering, mathematics and science. All of the programs are free to educators, while some programs also provide stipends.

Electric cars, bicycles, alternative fuel vehicles and innovations in public transportation will take over the University of Notre Dame’s Stepan Center in an exciting trade show display on Feb. 29 (Wednesday) for “Green Summit V: The Future of Transportation.”

“Sustainable transportation is a rapidly developing field, and we wanted to create a setting in which the ND community could connect directly with those who are redefining what’s possible,” explained Rachel Novick of the Office of Sustainability. “Experts will be on hand at the summit to answer questions about battery technology, charging stations, electric bikes and much more.”

Joan F. Brennecke, the Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for her innovation in the use of ionic liquids and supercritical fluids for environmentally benign chemical processing.

Election to NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education, including significant contributions to engineering literature, the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing and implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.

We are pleased to welcome two new assistant professors to the SEI faculty group -- Tengfei Luo and Ruilan Guo -- both of whom joined the University in January 2012. Tengfei is a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Ruilan is a faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. SEI faculty and associated researchers will have an opportunity to learn more about their respective areas of research at an upcoming SEI Seminar in February.…

Watch Video

Imagine if the next coat of paint you put on the outside of your home generates electricity from light—electricity that can be used to power the appliances and equipment on the inside.

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame has made a major advance toward this vision by creating an inexpensive “solar paint” that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy.

The University of Notre Dame Haiti Program will spend less money to light and power its operations thanks to the addition of 16 solar panels, the work of a non-for-profit foundation led by two 1985 Notre Dame graduates.

The Let’s Share the Sun Foundation, based in Troy, N.Y., completed the second phase of a solar installation at the Residence Filariose in Leogane, Haiti, where four panels were installed earlier this year. The solar panels are now generating enough power to shut the diesel generator off during the day. The Residence Filariose serves as a training facility for the local community and guesthouse for visiting researchers focused on eradicating lymphatic filariasis.

A paper co-authored by William Phillip of the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Menachem Elimelech, Robert Goizueta Professor of Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Yale University, appearing in this week’s edition of the journal Science offers a critical review of the state of seawater desalination technology.…

A 10kW flexible thin-film solar array and monitoring system was recently installed on the roof of the University of Notre Dame’s Fitzpatrick Hall of Engineering. The light-weight flexible panels lie flat and are attached directly to the surface of the roof with an adhesive.

Connected directly to the University’s power grid, the array will help meet Fitzpatrick’s electricity demand, supplying an estimated 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

The University of Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute has announced the winners of its first Mobile Application Development Contest.

Mobile solutions for challenges in energy, environment and sustainability was the theme of the contest, which was organized by the Institute in collaboration with Notre Dame’s Energy Center…

The newest addition to the Notre Dame campus skyline, demonstrating the University’s commitment to renewable energy, was mounted on the roof of the Notre Dame power plant last week.

The turbine, one of several renewable energy initiatives currently underway at Notre Dame, can generate up to four kilowatts of power and will feed directly into the campus electrical grid. Although its purpose is largely educational, its size, vertical axis design and highly visible location distinguish it from other campus renewable energy projects.…

A new Energy Studies Minor will be offered to all undergraduate majors at the University of Notre Dame beginning in Fall 2011. This minor will prepare students to become successful leaders from all disciplines who understand the complexity of the energy challenge. They will be better prepared to provide goods and services that allow an acceptable quality of life in a more energy efficient manner. In addition, students will be able to draw from technical and non-technical resources to move our country and the world toward a sustainable energy future.…

New Umbrella Organization to Consolidate Research, Initiatives

With the announcement of the creation of the Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame (cSEND) earlier this month, the University will create an umbrella for its various sustainable energy projects, research and initiatives.

The new center will incorporate two existing Notre Dame institutions, the Notre Dame Energy Center (NDEC) and the Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI). The transition to incorporate the two under cSEND will be completed by the fall semester of 2011.…

The Notre Dame Energy Center (NDEC) and the Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) have linked together to create a new University Research Center known as the Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame (cSEND). The new center will continue the mission of the NDEC and SEI, which is to enhance energy related research at Notre Dame and increase energy awareness and education through its outreach and education programs. The center will also serve as the primary hub on campus by which to obtain information and to seek advice on energy related topics and issues. By routinely interacting and collaborating with other departments, centers, and institutes on campus with similar energy interests, the center will create a “one-stop-shop” for the campus community and its local, regional, national, and international constituents for all matters related to energy.…

The continuing nuclear energy crisis at Japan’s earthquake and tsunami damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site has once again raised questions in the United States about how to manage and safely store highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. The questions have long been the focus of researchers Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt and Peter Burns of the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences.

In response to students' growing concern over environmental issues, the University announced the creation of two new minors, Energy Studies and Sustainability, each of which will be offered to all undergraduate students beginning in the fall of 2011.

Read the full article in the Observer at:

http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/news/nd-creates-two-new-environmental-minors-for-fall-2011-semester-1.2124213…

View Video

Despite more energy efficient appliances, energy consumption in the United States has increased 21-percent since 1978.

In the last ten years, the digital age is putting even more of a strain on our energy system. However, the cost to power …

Two University of Notre Dame researchers are included in a new ranking of the top chemists of the past decade.

Joan F. Brennecke, Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Notre Dame Sustainable Energy Imitative, and Prashant Kamat, Rev. John A. Zahm Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Radiation Lab and concurrent professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, are on a list of the 100 top chemists published by the Times Higher Education group.

The video is available at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6014/171.full

 Dr. Franklin Tao and his collaborator gave an invited video speech for Science Magazine along with their invited article published in Science magazine (Science 311, 171-174 (2011…

Ten University of Notre Dame faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in honor of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

AAAS, founded in 1848 as a nonprofit association, is the world’s largest scientific society and publisher of the prestigious journal Science.

            Franklin (Feng) Tao accepted the invitation to serve on the advisory board of Catalysis Science and Technology, a new journal led by UK Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/CY/Staff.asp. Research interests of Franklin Tao's group can be found at http://www.franklin-tao.com/…

Faculty from the University of Notre Dame’s Colleges of Engineering and Science have been awarded more than $1.3 million from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in collaboration with research being conducted by Mississippi State University on the development of novel materials for improved battery technology.

Joan F. Brennecke, Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the University of Notre Dame Energy Center, has been appointed editor of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data.

The Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data is a monthly publication that reports on experimental, evaluated and predicted data on the physical, thermodynamic and transport properties of well-defined materials including complex mixtures of known compositions and systems of environmental and biochemical interest.

The University of Notre Dame's Stinson-Remick Hall has received LEED Gold Certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Stinson-Remick, which was dedicated on September 3rd, is a 160,000-square-foot College of Engineering facility that houses a nano technology research center, a 9,000-square-foot semiconductor processing and device fabrication clean room, and an undergraduate interdisciplinary learning center.…

Joan Brennecke was presented the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. 

The University of Notre Dame Energy Center has been awarded a $2.8-million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) stimulus grant for a research project aimed at dramatically improving how the country uses and produces energy.

The solar panel array that sits on top of Notre Dame’s new Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering was donated by General Electric. Rated at 50kW, it is expected to provide an estimated 55,000 kilowatt-hours of carbon-free electricity annually to the structure. Students in the building’s McCourtney Learning Center are able to track the energy being generated. Learn More…

An interview with Dr. Prashant Kamat and his team of researchers aired on Thursday, July 29, at 5:30 p.m. on WNDU-TV. To view the video, visit: http://www.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/99574284.html.

Joan F. Brennecke, Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, is the recipient of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant for research that could fundamentally change the way the country uses and produces energy.

Brennecke received the $2.5-million grant through the department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA…