WPI Left Behind On Federal Fuel Cell Dollars
Rival Umass Amherst nabs three-year grant
State and federal funding for the nebulous field of fuel cell research is tight.
And recently, the money pool just got a little smaller for research institutions like Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
That's because the University of Massachusetts in Amherst was awarded a $1.5 million, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to help study the chemical processes inherent in fuel cells.
The grant could be worth as much as $30 million, depending on academic and research results, the school said.
WPI - which currently has a fuel cell research center - did not apply for the NSF grant awarded to UMass, said Linda Looft, WPI's assistant vice president for government and community relations. Instead, she said the school's goal is to secure state funding to build the school's research infrastructure, and then pursue federal funding of the type recently awarded to UMass.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute was beat out by UMass Amherst for federal fuel cell research dollars.Research Rivals
While congratulatory of their academic brethren at UMass for securing the funding, and anxious to explore potential academic collaborations in the future, WPI officials acknowledged a new friendly rival in the constant struggle to secure funding.
"There are a finite amount of resources for this type of research, and people from all over the country compete for them, so there will always be friendly rivalries," said Ravindra Datta, professor of chemical engineering and director of WPI's existing Fuel Cell Center.
WPI is currently working with Rep. Robert Spellane, D-Worcester, to secure state funds for the establishment of the Massachusetts Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Collaborative at the school.
Fuel cells use clean hydrogen gas to create electric power, and emit only minor amounts of heat and water as a byproduct, making them highly desirable for a number of commercial, industrial, residential and military applications.
Datta said that in the 10 years since WPI founded its fuel cell program, many other state institutions have followed in their footsteps, creating a vibrant and complementary research community in the state that will only attract further growth.
"We've created a core of institutions with complementary interests," Datta said. "In Massachusetts, we have a strong industrial fuel cell cluster and a rapidly growing university cluster. We need to come together and combine the complementary strengths of the various universities to tackle the problems."
Massachusetts, despite having a strong cluster of fuel cell companies, lags behind other states in securing federal funding for research and development, Datta said. The grant award to UMass will hopefully change that, he said.
"A grant like this strengthens the associations we have" with other institutions, Looft said. "More universities working as a whole are stronger than individual efforts."
Datta said he plans on contacting UMass to open the door for future collaboration.
The UMass grant was given to help study the phenomenon of proton transfer in fuel cells, which is an essential part of the electricity generation function of the fuel cell. Datta said WPI has published numerous studies on proton transfer, and looks forward to sharing the school's engineering knowledge.
Datta said the UMass program may have been better suited than WPI to secure the NSF funding, because its program, while examining the potential fuel cell applications of proton transfer, also promised to broaden the field of proton science in general, which is in line with the NSF's mission of supporting fundamental science.
WPI, in contrast, is examining fuel cells from an engineering, rather than purely chemical, perspective, Datta said.
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