Bridging the Gap between New Materials , Fuel Cell Devices and Products: An Alliance of Virginia Universities, Battelle , VA Center for Innovative Tech, Industry Partners and LANL

该奖项授予弗吉尼亚理工学院州立大学，用于支持以下36个月的活动。该提案是为了响应创新伙伴关系计划招标（NSF-03521）而提交的。合作伙伴包括弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学（领导机构）、弗吉尼亚联邦大学、洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室、巴特尔、弗吉尼亚创新技术中心、通用汽车、摩托罗拉、Hydrosize Technologies和TeleEnergy Systems。此外，与格兰布林州立大学、汉普顿大学、摩根州立大学和南卡罗莱纳斯帕坦堡大学的招生和教师交流将扩大代表性不足的少数民族的参与。该奖项的主要目标是与重点大学、重点工业组织和国家实验室合作，整合最近展示的质子交换膜燃料电池、工艺和相关技术。新的膜材料正在开发中。工业合作伙伴正在进行燃料电池系统工程分析。国家实验室合作伙伴正在表征新材料的分子结构并将其与燃料电池性能联系起来。大学和工业合作伙伴正在开发新的加工和制造方法。弗吉尼亚创新技术中心正在推广这项工作的成果，并招募/发展新的初创公司。参与该项目的学生将成为支持新兴燃料电池业务所需劳动力的重要组成部分。长期可持续性是该计划的关键组成部分。潜在的经济影响：预计到2011年，燃料电池业务将超过110亿美元。燃料电池在固定式、便携式和汽车应用中提供清洁、可靠的能源。该活动的智力价值在于提供新材料基础研究、新材料加工开发、燃料电池系统性能分析和燃料电池制造规模扩大的综合努力。该活动的广泛影响集中在为燃料电池行业培养新一代学生，重点是招募和参与代表性不足的少数民族。

0332648McGrathThis award is to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University to support the activity described below for 36 months. The proposal was submitted in response to the Partnerships for Innovation Program Solicitation (NSF-03521).PartnersThe partners include Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Lead Institution), Virginia Commonwealth University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Battelle, Virginia Center for Innovative Technology, General Motors, Motorola, Hydrosize Technologies, and TeleEnergy Systems, .In addition, student recruitment and faculty exchanges with Grambling State University, Hampton University, Morgan State University, and University of South Carolina Spartanburg will broaden the participation of underrepresented minorities.The primary objective of this award is to integrate recently demonstrated proton exchange membrane fuel cells, processes and related technologies in a partnership with key universities, key industrial organizations, and national laboratories. New membrane materials are being developed. The industrial partners are performing the fuel cell system engineering analysis. The national laboratory partner is Characterization of the molecular structure of the new materials and relating that to the fuel cell performance. The universities and the industrial partners are developing new processing and manufacturing methods. The Virginia Center for Innovative Technology is promoting the outcomes of the work and recruiting/developing new start-up companies. Students involved in the project will become a significant part of the workforce necessary to support the emerging fuel cell business. Long-term sustainability is a key component of the program.Potential Economic ImpactThee fuel cell business is predicted to be in excess of $11 billion by 2011. Fuel cells provide clean, reliable energy in stationary, portable, and automotive applications.The intellectual merit of the activity lies in providing an integrated effort from fundamental research on new materials, development of novel materials processing, fuel cell system performance analysis, and fuel cell manufacturing scale-up. The broader impacts of the activity concentrate on creating a new student generation for the fuel cell industry with an emphasis on recruitment and involvement of underrepresented minorities.