Creating a greener environment and economy, while making our nation more energy independent—that's the focus of pioneering alternative energy research being pursued by University of South Carolina scientists.

At the vanguard of hydrogen fuel cell and other Future Fuels™ research, University faculty—along with industry and government researchers —are developing alternative energy sources for cars, homes, and even Segways and scoreboards.

Home to the nation's only National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells, the University of South Carolina partners with more than 15 private industries on fuel cell research, including General Motors, Boeing, BASF, John Deere, LG Electronics, and the Savannah River National Laboratory.

The University's Department of Chemical Engineering is conducting research supported by more than $6 million in competitive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Promising breakthroughs, including 3-D computer design of fuel cells and structures and development of new materials for fuel cell components, already have resulted.

Many of the nation's top researchers in Future Fuels™ are South Carolina faculty members, including Ken Reifsnider, director of the new Solid Oxide Fuel Cell program who arrives on campus in June. Alternative energy researchers will be among the first to work in the University's exciting Innovista research district. Innovista's Horizon Center, scheduled for completion in early 2008, will be home to a University building devoted to Future Fuels™ research on hydrogen storage, distribution, and fuel cell development.

For more information, contact Dr. John Van Zee, at vanzee@engr.sc.edu, or Johanna Bartl, at bartlaj@engr.sc.edu.