McKelvey School of Engineering

Washington University in St. Louis is creating a new International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) to encourage and coordinate university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of renewable energy and sustainability — including biofuels, CO2 mitigation and coal-related issues. The university will invest more than $55 million in the initiative, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

The newly established International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis will encourage international collaborative research on energy and environmental issues by working closely with a global partnership of leading universities forged recently by the University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis will be shaped and supported by advisory and steering committees comprised of both internal and external leaders, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced.

PakrasiThe International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University will operate under the direction of Himadri B. Pakrasi, Ph.D., the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, and professor of energy in the School of Engineering.

June 4, 2007 — Washington University in St. Louis is creating a new International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) to encourage and coordinate university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of renewable energy and sustainability — including biofuels, CO2 mitigation and coal-related issues. The university will invest more than $55 million in the initiative, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. (more…)

Photosynthesis transforms light, carbon dioxide and water into chemical energy in plants and some bacteria.When it comes to studying energy transfer in photosynthesis, it’s good to think “outside the bun.” That’s what Robert Blankenship, Ph.D., professor of biology and chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, did when he contributed a protein that he calls the taco shell protein to a study performed by his collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley. The protein enabled the surprising discovery of a quantum effect in photosynthesis.

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoKevin Moeller’s group is pioneering new methods for building libraries of small molecules on addressable electrode arrays.A chemist at Washington University in St. Louis is making molecules the new-fashioned way — selectively harnessing thousands of minuscule electrodes on a tiny computer chip that do chemical reactions and yield molecules that bind to receptor sites. Kevin Moeller, Ph.D., Washington University professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, is doing this so that the electrodes on the chip can be used to monitor the biological behavior of up to 12,000 molecules at the same time.

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoPratim Biswas and his group have developed a method to make a variety of oxide semiconductors that, when put into water promote chemical reactions that split water into hydrogen and oxygen.Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a unique photocatalytic cell that splits water to produce hydrogen and oxygen in water using sunlight and the power of a nanostructured catalyst. The group is developing novel methodologies for synthesis of nanostructured films with superior opto-electronic properties.

Yixin Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, is one of just five new faculty nationwide to receive a New Faculty Fellowship from Microsoft Research. The fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards for young computer scientists. Chen, who began his Washington University career in 2005, is the first Washington University researcher to be awarded the Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship.

WUSTL engineers have developed a unique photocatlytic cell that splits water to produce hydrogen and oxygen in water using sunlight and the power of a nanostructured catalyst. The technique will be demonstrated at a poster session May 6, 2007, at the International Symposium on Energy and Environment, held at the University.