Joan Brennecke, cSEND Director and Keating-Crawford Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, recently announced a change in leadership within the Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame (cSEND).

Effective August 26, 2013, Kenneth Henderson, Department Chair and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, will step down as Associate Director. Ken has served in this capacity since the inception of the Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) in 2010. During his tenure, Ken has contributed greatly to the success of the SEI and cSEND. The following list describes a few of the major accomplishments:

• Seed grants were awarded to over 80 faculty, amounting to more than $3M in funding for co-workers (postdocs and graduate students) and supplies.
• Four new laboratories were developed with state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation to support faculty research in the areas of safer nuclear, transformative solar, and cleaner fossil, plus a laboratory that combines the computational expertise of both engineering and science faculty.
• The Notre Dame Energy Center expanded its mission and was approved as a University Research Center, now known as cSEND.

It was through Ken's dedication and commitment to energy related research and education that cSEND experienced such growth and success over the past 3+ years.

Dr. Brennecke further announced the appointments of Gregory Hartland, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and William Schneider, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, as co-Associate Directors to cSEND. According to Joan, "Greg and Bill will do an exceptional job in representing the research needs of our faculty in science and engineering and will contribute greatly to the cSEND mission as we continue to work towards creating a more sustainable energy future for all." Greg and Bill will serve as co-Associate Directors through June 30, 2014.