California has already become a beachhead for renewable energy research and development. Now comes word that Santa Clara University’s School of Engineering will receive an anonymous gift of $1.3 million from an engineering alumnus and his wife who live in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to help create some of the country’s top scholars in the field of renewable energy.
“This is the first substantial donation to our energy program following our successes in the 2007 and 2009 Solar Decathlon competitions,” said Godfrey Mungal, Dean of the
Santa Clara University School of Engineering. “It comes at a very exciting time for us as we begin celebrating our 100th anniversary and a century of engineering excellence here at Santa Clara University. Energy is a prime focus for us as we move into the next 100 years of educating leaders of integrity to solve the world’s most challenging problems and we are so appreciative of this gift that will, we hope, be just the start of more support for this important program.”
The donation will help the university launch the Latimer Engineering Scholars Program during the 2011-12 academic year. Electrical Engineering Professor and Latimer Engineering Scholars Program Director Tim Healy will select five incoming freshman engineering students and assign them laboratory projects, focusing initially on photovoltaics (PV) and then expanding to other areas of renewable energy as the program grows. The projects will become increasingly sophisticated each year and, as the students move up in rank, they will be able to mentor the younger classes. Each student will also receive stipends for working in the lab and on the projects.
“The objective is to develop highly-educated undergraduate students in photovoltaics and renewable energy,” commented Healy. “We hope to have among the best-educated students in the country in this area.”
Healy also envisions that the program will develop strong personal contacts with companies and create internship opportunities for the scholars during the summer. “After students spend a year or two in the program, they will be able to pursue internships in places such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, solar technology companies like SunPower Corporation in San Jose, California, and perhaps one of the light-emitting-diode companies in the Silicon Valley,” said Healy.
Healy and his colleague Professor Samiha Mourad co-founded the Latimer Engineering Lab at Santa Clara University in 2008 to teach undergraduate and graduate students about renewable energy. Faculty also use the lab for SCU’s annual Summer Engineering Seminars , which give high school students a chance to explore engineering.
For more information on the Santa Clara University School of Engineering, visit the school’s website.
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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Carrie Schmelkin
