May 13, 2009

Nature Magazine Spotlights ECE Prof. Hersee's Energy-Efficient Lighting

Reducing the energy used for lighting is part of the big picture of energy research in New Mexico, and the April 30 issue of Nature magazine recognizes that fact. So does the National Science Foundation, which granted funding that could total $30 million over 10 years for a collaborative research project led by Dr. Stephen Hersee, professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UNM.

The goal of Hersee's collaboration, as reported in Nature, “is to reduce the amount of energy used for lighting beyond the capability of compact fluorescent light bulbs. The next step is improving the efficiency of light-emitting diodes. Hersee estimates that changing all U.S. light bulbs to solid state would reduce the country's energy bill by 20%. And as solid-state bulbs don't contain mercury, they don't present the same disposal problems caused by compact fluorescents. Hersee and colleagues' group is large and diverse, with some 20 researchers across three centres plus another 80 to 100 undergraduate and graduate researchers. Sandia [National Labs] is also involved, and the collaboration is seeking 12 industrial partners.”

Hersee is associate director of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Smart Lighting at UNM. For more information about his research collaboration, go to this earlier story on the ECE@UNM website.

The Nature article also featured research into the biofuel catalytic process being done by Dr. Abhaya Datye, professor of Chemical & Nuclear Engineering at UNM. Datye has a five-year, $2.5 million grant from NSF that, as described by Nature magazine's reporter Paul Smaglik, transforms ”algae into biofuels by improving the catalytic process that turns organic matter into biofuels, triggered by the sun. Datye is drawing on research interactions with Sandia, major automakers, and fossil-fuel companies, with input from students and postdocs. He says that students and postdocs from Germany and Denmark as well as from Iowa State University, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of Virginia will rotate among labs involved in the grant. They will also work with industrial partners, including Haldor Topsoe, a large Danish catalyst company.“

Datye is director of Nanoscience and Microsystems at UNM.