U-M and Chinese university fund renewable energy and biomedical technology projects

June 29, 2010
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ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University officials today announced the first six research teams to win funding for renewable energy and biomedical technology projects in a new joint program that teams up investigators from both schools.

The first-round winners were announced at a ceremony in Shanghai. At the same event, officials from both universities formally approved the joint research program, signing a resolution on collaborative research that commits each school to spending $3 million over the next five years.

Each of the six winning teams will receive $200,000. The projects were selected from 39 proposals (20 in biomedical technologies and 19 in renewable energy) submitted by teams that include researchers from both U-M and SJTU.

“The research strengths of our two universities are quite complementary, so we are well-matched to work together on some of the grand challenges facing humanity,” said U-M Vice President for Research Stephen Forrest, who, along with U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, attended Tuesday’s signing ceremony in China.

“Today we are facing human-scale problems that will require global collaborations that bring together the world’s best scientists and engineers,” he said. “The globalization of research is beginning to transform the way big problems are tackled, and the University of Michigan will be at the forefront of this emerging trend.”

The goal of the U-M/SJTU Collaborative Research Program in Renewable Energy Science and Technology is to develop new technologies that reduce global carbon emissions and their impact on climate change. The Collaborative Research Program in Biomedical Technologies will spur technological advances that improve human health.

“Renewable energy and biomedical technologies that improve human health?I cannot think of two other areas of research that can have a greater impact on the environment and the quality of life of people worldwide,” Forrest said.

Winning projects in the renewable energy category:

High-capacity Li-air batteries for electric vehicle applications. Principal investigators: Donald Siegel, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan; Zi-Feng Ma, Department of Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Xianxia Yuan, Department of Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Goal: Combine experiments and computational modeling to identify optimal cathode catalysts for Li-air batteries that could power low-cost electric vehicles with a driving range comparable to today’s gasoline-powered vehicles.

High-efficiency hybrid solar cells based on carbon nanotube enhanced nanostructures. Principal investigators: Yafei Zhang, Research Institute of Micro/Nanometer Science & Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Zhaohui Zhong, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan. Goal: Integrate single-walled carbon nanotubes into existing silicon and polymer photovoltaic devices to create high-efficiency hybrid solar cells.

Large-panel integrated-light transmitting and solar energy-harvesting farms


 

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