Purdue University researchers will tackle several alternative energy-related projects for the U.S. Navy and develop a power and energy course through a grant of nearly $3 million from the Office of Naval Research.
The Navy Enterprise Partnership Teaming with Universities for National Excellence (NEPTUNE) will support the launch of Purdue's NEPTUNE Power and Energy Research Center and seven research projects along with the new course, which will begin in spring 2016 at Purdue.
A key Purdue-Navy proposal, receiving $293,000 from the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP), focuses on multidimensional gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Aviation technology professor Gozdem Kilaz and Bruce Cooper, senior scientist at Bindley Bioscience Center, will study the different sources of biomass-biofuel and research the relationship between their chemical composition and fuel performance.
The Navy and Marine Corps have a goal to convert half of their energy consumption to alternative sources, including biofuels, by 2020. The alternate fuels also must work in diesel engines.
Two other professors with ties to Purdue Polytechnic, are assisting with a new course supported by the grant: "Power and Energy: A STEM Program to Inspire Leadership in Science and Technology for the Workforce of the Future Fleet.”
This effort is led by Maureen McCann, director of the Energy Center and a professor of biological sciences; Eric Dietz, director of the Purdue Homeland Security Institute and a Purdue Polytechnic Institute professor; and Pankaj Sharma, managing director of the Energy Center who has a courtesy faculty appointment with Purdue Polytechnic.
Read the full Purdue news release.