Univ California-Irvine gets $3.9 million Gift to expand solar energy research
By Gary Robbins, March 9, 2007
source: The Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1609822.php
An anonymous donor has given UC Irvine $3.9 million to create a Center for Solar Research, enabling the school to more actively join state and federal efforts to develop cleaner-burning fuels. UCI has long conducted studies on hydrogen fuel cells and nuclear energy. But it has done comparatively little work on harnessing the power of the sun. “Solar energy research is a tremendous growth area and this donation is a big catalyst for us,” said John Hemminger, dean of UCI’s School of Physical Sciences, which will run the new center.
The gift was funneled to UCI through the California Community Foundation, a Los Angeles-based philanthropic organization that supports everything from health care to education to science. It comes as the state is trying to expand the use of solar energy to create 3,000 megawatts of electricity by 2017. The federal Solar America Initiative also is trying to get cities to rely more on solar power.
Initially, UCI’s Physical Sciences Center for Solar Research will involve such chemists as Hemminger, Reginald Penner and Alan Heyduk, whose work involves such things as developing better materials for solar equipment to better ways to focus, store and use solar energy.