MSI PI Paul Dauenhauer (professor, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS)) will lead the Center for Programmable Energy Catalysis, a new Energy Frontier Research Center that has received $10.6 million over the next four years from the U.S. Department of Energy. The center, which will include engineers and scientists from seven U.S. universities, will develop a reaction technology to transform how catalysts convert energy-rich molecules into chemical reactions. The goal of this research is to reduce environmental impacts that occur with energy conversion.
A story about the new Center appears on the CEMS website: CEMS Researchers Lead $10M Federal Grant to Develop a More Sustainable Process for Programmable Catalysis, and in a story on the U of M News site: University of Minnesota Awarded Nearly $22M to Lead Two Energy Frontier Research Centers. Professor Dauenhauer and this project were also featured on WCCO tv: U of M Researchers Looking to Reduce Catalytic Converter Thefts Awarded $10.6M Grant.
Professor Dauenhauer uses MSI resources for research into the reaction chemistry of biomass molecules.