SUNRISE researchers awarded $2,786,268 in external grants The Sustainable Energy Research Initiative congratulates the following faculty for receiving external competitive grant awards this spring: * Alena Kubatova, assistant professor of chemistry, was awarded a five-year $640,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award titled, “Formation Pathway of Polar Derivatives of Nitro-PAHs." The research aim of this proposal is to elucidate the gas-particle (heterogeneous) reaction mechanisms of PAH nitration and oxidation with a focus on the identification of reaction products. * Sivaguru Jayaraman, NDSU assistant professor of chemistry, was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER award titled "Imprinting Molecular Chirality In Solution During Photo-Transformations." This four-year $575,000 award will build upon preliminary data from a SUNRISE Department of Energy EPSCoR Infrastructure Improvement Program seed grant Siva used to develop methods and data that he utilized in his winning proposal. * Uwe Burghaus, NDSU assistant professor of chemistry, was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER award titled, “Chemical Activity of Copper Oxide and Gold Nano Model Array Catalysts Towards CO Oxidation”. In this five-year $426,000 project Dr. Burghaus and his students will study the catalytic activity of model-nano-array catalysts by surface chemistry techniques. Those catalysts belong to the class of so-called model catalysts which consists of nano-sized metal particles on a metal oxide support and can resemble realistic model systems for industrial catalysts. Principal investigator Brian Tande, assistant professor of chemical engineering, along with co-PIs Wayne Seames, Ed Kolodka, and Darrin Muggli (all from UND chemical engineering) were awarded a three-year $367,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop polymers and composites from crop oils. The program titled “Bio-based Polymeric Materials from Cracked Canola Oil” will focus on converting canola oil into several polymers commonly used in building materials, coatings, adhesives, and many other products traditionally derived from petroleum or natural gas. The Department of Energy has awarded a three-year $352,000 grant to Uwe Burghaus, NDSU professor of chemistry, titled, “Characterization of Fundamental Catalytic Properties of MoS2/WS2 Nanotubes and Nanoclusters for Desulfurization Catalysis – a Surface Chemistry Study.” In this project nano-desulfurization catalysts will be characterized in collaboration with R. Tenne’s group at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Michael Mann, UND professor of chemical engineering and Hossein Salehfar, professor of electrical engineering were awarded a three- year grant for $301,268 from the Department of Energy titled, “Development of a Renewable Hydrogen Production and Fuel Cell Education Program”. Their research team will take advantage of the infrastructure and programs established through SUNRISE to provide a comprehensive renewable hydrogen production and fuel cell education program. Principal Investigator Wayne Seames, UND Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering along with co-PIs Darrin Muggli, Brian Tande (both UND Chemical Engineering) and Alena Kubatova (UND Chemistry) were awarded a one year, $110,000 grant by the North Dakota Soybean Council to continue their research into processes to produce fuels, chemicals, and polymers from Soybean Oil. This is the fifth straight year that the North Dakota Soybean Council has provided funding to the SUNRISE crop oil conversion technologies program. The North Dakota Soybean Council also awarded a $15,000 one-year grant to PI Michael Mann, UND professor of chemical engineering and co-PI Wayne Seames to study the benefits of co-locating soybean processing facilities with sugar beet factories. The Sustainable Energy Research Initiative and Supporting Education (SUNRISE is a student centered, faculty led research program at the University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, and other North Dakota Universities. The mission of SUNRISE is to conduct research that contributes to solving complex energy-related problems; investigate the development of sustainable energy options, leading towards economic development and job creation for North Dakota; increase UND and NDSU research competitiveness in sustainable energy; and produce graduates to develop and promote sustainable energy in North Dakota, the region, and the nation, all within a unified, interdisciplinary program that translates fundamental research into commercial solutions. -- Wayne Seames, Director, SUNRISE, wayneseames@mail.und.edu, 7-2958