PHaSE Energy Frontier Research Center at UMass Amherst

NEWS ARCHIVE

Archived 2009-Aug-09 U.S. DOE Announces Energy Frontier Research Centers

Archived 2009-Aug-09 UMass Amherst EFRC Proposal

Archived 2009-Aug-09 EFRC Funding Distributed to Successful Centers

• 09/17/2009.PHaSE co-director Paul Lahti led off a set of presentations organized by the UMass Amherst Research & Liaison office to meet with a delegation of scientists from various technical research centers of the Gipuzkoa province in the Basque region of northern Spain. The delegation was organized through the Tecnalia Corporation, and included representatives of companies in the IK4 Technology Alliance of that region, as well as representatives of the Department of Innovation and the Information Society, Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain. The event was also coordinated through European Office of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment (MOITI) in cooperation with the Economic Development Council of Western Mass. Other campus research-oriented groups making presentations at the meeting were the Wind Energy Center, MassCREST, CUMIRP, the e-Design Center, and MassNanotech.
• 09/2009. PHaSE welcomes Ms. Sandi Harris Graves as Office & Grants Manager for the Center. Sandi is a long time UMass Amherst employee having strong experience in managing offices, travel, and student relationships. She can be found in the main PHaSE office on the 5th floor of the Conte Center for Polymer Research.
• 12/2009. PHaSE's DOE program officer Dr. Mark Pedersen and AAAS Policy Fellow Dr. Robin Hayes visited the Center to see how things are going. Co-directors Tom Russell and Paul Lahti described the administrative rollout of the the Center, then ERG coordinators Todd Emrick, D. Venkataraman, and Marc Achermann gave overviews of research progress and planning to date.
• 02/2010. PHaSE welcomes Dr. Lawrence Friedman as our new Managing Director. Larry comes to us with strong backgrounds in both academic and industrial experience. He is well acquainted with UMass Amherst from his time at Bayer MaterialsScience, where he was much involved in doctoral level recruiting and in academic/industrial liaison work as Head of University Relations. Before this, he was at Polaroid doing work in flims research as a manager and senior scientist. His academic credentials include administrative positions at both UPitt and UPenn.
• 03/2010. PHaSE Co-director Paul Lahti and Managing Director Larry Friedman attended a DOE-BES organized meeting and workshop for all EFRC's at Bethesda MD during 28 Feb -- 1 March. The meeting included brief situation updates from all EFRC representatives, and networking presentations from various DOE offices with interests in EFRC research.
• 03/2010 PHaSE EFRC is prominently featured in an article entitled "Energy Frontiers" in the UMass Amherst "Report on Research 2009" from the office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement.
• 03/2010. PHaSE Co-director Paul Lahti and Managing Director Larry Friedman joined other UMass representatives at a roundtable meeting and discussion organized by Massachusetts Governor Patrick Deval's office. The roundtable session was held in Springfield MA, and was primarily devoted to news about the positive effects of ARRA stimulus funding on the western Massachusetts area. All of PHaSE's funding comes through ARRA. The EFRC is the UMass Amherst campus' largest ARRA-supported program.
• 05/2010. PHaSE work was prominently featured at the UMass Amherst Center for UMass / Industry Research on Polymers (CUMIRP) Spring Polymer Event held on campus at the Conte Center for Polymer Research on the afternoon of Thursday 13 May 2010. There was strong representation of industrial scientists interested in solar energy at the meeting.
• 05/2010. Work at PHaSE is featured at the "Massachusetts Research in Focus" portion of the Science Works for Us website. The web article focuses on Center's basic research goals to improve organic-based photovoltaics. As described at its home page, Science Works for Us is "joint effort of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and The Science Coalition (TSC) to demonstrate the impact of stimulus-funded university research activities across the country.
• 06/2010. PHaSE is pleased to announce that Dr. Volodimyr Duzhko has joined the center as the new Photovoltaics Facility Director. Dr. Duzhko has a strong background of work, experience, and publication in the area of electronic device physics, most recently at Case Western Reserve University.
• 07/2010. PHaSE Co-director Paul Lahti and Managing Director Larry Friedman joined other UMass representatives on 17 July 2010 at a roundtable meeting and discussion about renewable energy, with representatives from the Free State of Saxony in Germany. Saxony is a big economic success story in Europe, and is well known for a variety of high tech industries. UMass energy center representatives from MassCREST (Mike Wright), the Fuel Cell project (Bryan Coughlin), TIMBR and biofuels research (Danny Schnell), the Wind Energy Research Center (James Manwell), and western Massachusetts industrial representatives having interest in sustainable energy met with Deputy Prime Minister Sven Morlok and other Saxony high level economic officials, as well as a representative from the German Consulate in Boston. The wide range discussion involved exchange of common interests, as well as prospects for collaboration and scientific exchange visits.
• 10/2010. PHaSE was a prominent participant in the third Clean Energy Connections conference and opportunity meeting at the Mutual Center in Springfield MA on 20 October 2010. The conference was organized by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is "the region’s premier forum for green career- and business-development information and networking". PHaSE researchers presented multiple posters and talked with all comers, including reporters, business oriented visitors, and representatives of community groups with energy concerns and interests.