Stony Brook receives $10 Million DOE Grant for New Energy Frontier Research Center
Prolific Battery Researcher, Esther Takeuchi to direct new Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties (m2m)
|
|
m2m Center Project Director, Esther Takeuchi (r) and m2m Center COO Amy Marschilok, at the NYS Center of Excellence in Advanced Energy Research at Stony Brook University. |
STONY BROOK, NY, June 20, 2014 – Stony Brook University received notification from the U.S. Department of Energy that the proposal led by renowned energy storage researcher, Esther Takeuchi, PhD, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stony Brook University, and is Chief Scientist in Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Global and Regional Solutions Directorate, was selected to receive a $10 million Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) award. The Stony Brook led multi-institutional EFRC, known as the Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties (m2m), will conduct basic science research to advance and enable the deliberate design of materials and components to achieve higher performing, longer life, and safer energy storage systems, including batteries.
The federal award triggers matching funds pledged by New York State and from Stony Brook’s College of Arts & Sciences and College of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Columbia University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The m2m Center commences activity on August 1, 2014 and will be housed at the University’s New York State Center of Excellence in the Advanced Energy Center in Stony Brook’s Research and Development Park.
“Esther and her team are to be congratulated on their comprehensive, innovative proposal that will advance a safer, more efficient form of energy storage; one that aspires to increase energy output and remove heat from the equation,” said Stony Brook President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. “With incredible technology and a very talented group working at the Advanced Energy Center and with Brookhaven National Lab as a partner on this project (among others), we can look forward to substantial, meaningful discoveries coming from the m2m Center.”
Upon learning of the award, Takeuchi notified and recognized her collaborators, including the team at BNL spearheaded by Lab Director Doon Gibbs, and Associate Lab Director for Basic Energy Sciences, Jim Misewich; her key SBU based senior personnel including Associate Professor Marivi Fernandez-Serra, Research Associate Professor Amy Marschilok (m2m Center COO), SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Kenneth Takeuchi, and Professor Stanislaus Wong; the collaborating institutions, and all who supported the months-long grant application process.
“Responding to the nation’s need for clean, affordable, and reliable energy is one of the major challenges of our time,” said Takeuchi. “Electrochemical energy storage plays a significant role in the broader energy landscape. By selecting this program, the DOE has recognized that understanding and controlling internal resistance will enable future implementation of safe, high power, efficient energy storage solutions.”
“It is gratifying that the State of New York, Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and our NY state partner institutions feel strongly enough about our work on energy storage to make a tangible commitment of support, and that all entities clearly believe in the quality of the science we are producing. I am confident that the impact of our work will be appreciated for years to come.”
In all, the DOE announced $100 million in awards for 32 projects, selected from 200 proposals; 22 were renewals; ten awards, including Stony Brook’s m2m Center, funded new research initiatives.
“Today, we are mobilizing some of our most talented scientists to join forces and pursue the discoveries and breakthroughs that will lay the foundation for our nation’s energy future,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz when making the announcement. “The funding we’re announcing today will help fuel scientific and technological innovation.”
SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher said, “With two award-winning projects championed by SUNY distinguished professors as part of this program, SUNY continues its national leadership role in discovering and creating innovative energy storage solutions for the future. Congratulations to Dr. Takeuchi and Stony Brook University on this outstanding achievement.”
m2m
Center: Description
The Center will focus on mesoscale transport properties in complex systems. The EFRC mission will be to acquire fundamental knowledge about the ion and electron transport and the electron transfer properties of energy relevant materials and interfaces to enable design of materials and systems providing higher performance, improved safety, and longer lifetime by minimizing generation of heat and maximizing useful work. This effort will augment materials genome efforts by building a fundamental knowledge base of transport properties relative to mesoscale systems.
The m2m Center Participants
The m2m Center at Stony Brook University is directed by Esther S. Takeuchi. Senior and key personnel at Stony Brook University include Marivi Fernandez-Serra (Physics/Institute for Advanced Computational Science), Amy Marschilok, m2m Center COO (Material Science, Chemistry), Kenneth Takeuchi (Chemistry) and Stanislaus Wong (Chemistry). The Center will be comprised of the following partner institutions: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Columbia University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of North Carolina.
###
Reporter Contact:
Lauren M. Sheprow
University Media Relations Officer
631-632-6310
Follow us on Twitter @sbunewsdesk
