• Slatt Fellowships
• Course Development Grants
• Seed Fund Program
• External Funding Sources
  
  
  Planting a tree can absorb a ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the life of the tree, as well as reducing energy costs with its shade.

Seed Fund Program

In spring 2008, the Notre Dame Energy Center (NDEC) announced a Request for Proposals for its newly established Seed Fund Program. The program was designed to support innovative, early-stage, research projects that would address energy-related issues and lead to externally sponsored research projects. Proposals were rated based on scientific importance, novelty of the ideas, potential impact, and the extent to which the proposed work would complement ongoing energy research at Notre Dame. Of the seven proposals submitted, three were approved for funding totaling $113,300. The recipients are:

Steven Corcelli (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Kathie Newman (Physics), and William Schneider (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), “Towards Simulating Chemical and Photochemical Reactions for Clean Energy: Methodologies for the Solid-Aqueous Interface,” 09/01/08 – 08/31/09.  The long-term goal of this project is to develop, validate, and apply computational efficient theoretical models to predict the structure and reactivity of transition metal oxides in contact with water.

Prashant Kamat (Chemistry and Biochemistry) and Paul McGinn (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), “Catalysts by Design. Semiconductor Nanocomposites for Solar Hydrogen Production,” 06/15/08 – 06/14/09. Solar hydrogen production from water-oxide mixed-phase systems has considerable potential as a source of clean, cheap, and transportable stored energy. The proposed work will greatly advance fundamental understanding of the production of hydrogen at the interface of water with newly developed metal oxide interfaces.

Ken Kuno and Prashant Kamat (Chemistry and Biochemistry), “Graded Quantum Dot/nanowire Heteroassemblies for Photovoltaics,” 07/01/08 – 06/30/09. This proposal aims to investigate the potential use of graded NW/QD heteroassemblies for efficient solar energy conversion with the ultimate goal of growing electronically graded NWs on flexible conductive substrates to enable the development of conformal NW-based solar cells.

For additional information regarding proposal guidelines and submission requirements, see the attached document. Request for Proposals-Spring 2008.