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Rational Design of Materials for Energy Conversion and Propulsion

Cluster Leaders: Patrick Schelling, Associate Professor, Physics, College of Sciences, and AMPAC Nina Orlovskaya Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Computer

Science and Engineering. Steering Committee Patrick Schelling (Physics) Nina Orlovskaya (MAE) Talat Rahman (Physics) James Fenton (FSEC, MSE) Jay Kapat (MAE) Fernando Uribe-Romo (Chemistry) Core Faculty Abdelkader Kara (Physics) Sumit Jha (CS) William Kaden (Physics) Nazim Muradov (FSEC) Sergey Stolbov (Physics) Haiyun Hu (CS) Laurene Tetard (NSTC) Ali Raissi (FSEC) Paul Brooker (FSEC) Annie Wu (CS) Participating UCF Faculty Masa Ishigami (Physics) Kevin Mackie (Civil Eng.) Mubarak Shah (CS) Morgan C. Wang (Statistics) Subith Vasu Sumathi (MAE) Seetha Raghavan (MAE) Jihua Gou (MAE) Stephen Kuebler (Chemistry) 1. Brief overview of the Rational Materials Design (RMD) cluster

The production of electricity from intermittent renewable resources, such as solar, is cost-competitive with fossil fuel generated electricity, and alternatively-powered transportation (e.g. biomass-derived fuels, electricity, and hydrogen) are rapidly gaining acceptance. Materials research for catalytic production and storage of energy is essential for increased market penetration of renewable energy sources. The proposed cluster is designed to transform UCF into a nationally- and internationally-recognized leader in energy-related research, specifically in the discovery and application of materials for catalysis. Several cluster members already have significant funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) in this area. However, we are missing expertise at UCF in several key areas, which seriously limits our ability to succeed in obtaining large grants in catalysis-related research and begin to address important societal and economic issues related to energy and the environment.

We are proposing five new faculty hires into a cluster of material scientists, engineers, and computer scientists who have already started to work together with the objective of accelerating the discovery and development of new materials for the energy economy. The new hires will be made into critical areas related to chemical/electrochemical means for energy storage and conversion, with a particular focus in chemical catalysis. At the most fundamental atomic scale, the team will employ physics-based computer models to develop a large database of materials

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properties. This database will then serve as input for computational-thinking and data-mining techniques developed by computer scientists to discover promising new materials. Finally, insight developed from this accelerated discovery process will be realized into applications that will have a large societal and economic impact. The proposed hiring plan targets faculty in critical experimental areas who are needed to generate the seamless expertise within the cluster to translate the accelerated discovery process to devices and applications in energy conversion and propulsion technology.

Figure 1, graphically depicts how the proposed hires will interact with existing strengths at

UCF. The colored circles represent areas where we have strength. The white circles in “catalyst optimization” and “catalyst layer design” represent areas where there is virtually no effort at UCF. These areas are targeted by the proposed cluster hires, with more specific details of the proposed hires in these areas also included in Fig 1. We envision that new faculty in these areas will form a bridge, as depicted in Fig. 1, between the fundamental computational work on campus, and more applied work at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and the Center for Advanced Turbine and Energy Research (CATER).

Figure 1 Strengths of current UCF groups and how they link together in the proposed cluster. The colored wedges show the paths for interaction between different components of the cluster. The white wedge indicates the current vacancies that the cluster hire will fill.

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Where we are strong

In the Physics Department, we are particularly strong in the area of computational modeling, especially in areas of catalysis and surface science. This includes the cluster lead (Schelling), as well as other core members (Rahman, Stolbov, and Kara). There are also strengths in materials synthesis and characterization within Physics (Kaden, Ishigami), Chemistry (Uribe-Romo), MAE (Orlovskaya), and NSTC (Tetard). FSEC has research faculty who have strengths in development and use of catalysts for a variety of energy applications (Raissi, Muradov, Brooker and Fenton). Especially within the computational group, the research focus is on fundamental science at the atomic scale. Within FSEC, the focus is usually directed more towards development and implementation of new energy technologies, and somewhat less on fundamental science. This includes several areas where FSEC is competitive on a national stage, including electric vehicles, energy storage, fuel cells, and photovoltaics. In addition to these strengths, we have assembled a team of computer scientists and a statistician who can team with the group in the physics department to enhance our ability to predict new materials using data mining and computational thinking. The idea is to extract patterns from large amounts of data, which includes data mining (Wang), machine-learning (Hu, Wu), algorithm development (Jha), and computer-vision, where UCF has strength (Shah).

The core faculty members in our cluster have demonstrated the ability to lead in large projects. This is especially true of FSEC, which has managed many large projects with complex interactions of interdisciplinary faculty and researchers at multiple universities, DOE national laboratories and industry (Fenton, Raissi, and Brooker). From the Basis Energy Sciences (BES) division of DOE, Rahman has been funded since 2003 (Catalysis Program with non-UCF Co-PIs) and Kara since 2011. Many other large proposals have been led by Physics, often in collaborative efforts with FSEC and other US institutions and National Labs. Orlovskaya (MAE) has recently submitted a major proposal to NSF (Materials Innovation Program) with Rahman and Uribe-Romo as Co-PIs. Rahman is the PI on an National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) proposal (Data Enabled Science and Engineering initiative) in which 9 of our team members are either Co-PI or senior personnel. In addition, Kapat (MAE) leads the Center for Advanced Turbine and Energy Research (CATER) at UCF. This center plays an important role in turbine research for energy and propulsion applications, and has made many important links to local industries. Both FSEC and CATER have a significant economic impact within Florida. Finally, Mubarak Shah is the Director of the Center for Research in Computer Vision, which includes several faculty members and a large number of graduate students. What we are missing

The areas that are missing are those that would act to enhance ties between more fundamental studies undertaken primarily on campus, and more applied research at FSEC and CATER. The shared realization of our shortcomings has emerged out of several years’ worth of discussions amongst our core faculty, often stemming from collaborative proposals. For example, within the FSEC members of the cluster, it has been realized that a lack of more fundamental efforts, including in areas of computation, is a severe limitation. Similarly, Physics members have relied on external collaborators to carry our experimental catalysis science research for their sustained funding. For example, we do not yet have anyone who can carry out systematic experimental research in chemical reactions either at the fundamental level or the scale-up engineering level. The proposed hires are intermediate between fundamental studies

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and applications, and would help to forge a stronger link between the current and new hire material energy tenure-track/tenured faculty with the research faculty (non-tenure) of FSEC. 2. Short and long-term cluster objectives

The short-term objectives of the cluster are to: • Enhance interactions among cluster members already at UCF • Develop stronger ties between Computer Science, Chemistry and Physics at UCF to

pursue opportunities in computational materials in response to the Materials Genome Initiative

• Identify five new faculty in key areas that form strong links between more fundamental and applied areas of energy and propulsion research

• Create a new seminar series on energy research, which will lead to the formation of a “virtual institute” which can help link FSEC with the main campus, and more broadly connect energy-related research across UCF

The long-term objectives are to: • Achieve international prominence in energy and propulsion research • Enhance partnerships with industry (locally and nationally) • Develop an academic program that encourages interdisciplinary education based on

a common focus on data and computational approaches linked to energy applications • Train the next generation of leaders in energy and propulsion science and technology • Compete successfully for large research grants at a national level, including DOE,

NSF, and DoD as potential funding sources 3. Achieve international prominence in energy-related research

The strengths identified above create a unique opportunity for UCF to become a top-ten institution in energy-related research. For example, FSEC is already regarded as extremely competitive in a number of key areas, but one weakness has been a lack of interaction with campus, which is partly due to a lack of UCF faculty in critical areas. Due to this weakness, FSEC also is limited in its ability to identify students who might be supported by grants. The computational team within the Physics Department is also very successful, but has not been able to connect its research as effectively as it might to applications. The cluster plan we will pursue must address these issues.

To begin our path towards preeminence in energy research, the plan followed by the computational group reflects the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), which has been an area of national focus (http://www.whitehouse.gov/mgi). The MGI was launched with $100 million in the President’s FY2012 budget, with the goal of accelerating materials discovery by a factor of two. Several agencies, including those with major investments in energy research, have been impacted by the MGI, including DOE, NSF, and NIST. The team is already developing these approaches and competing for funding at a national level. In the short term, we plan to enhance our collaborations with UCF computer scientists to improve our chances for successful proposals.

This new paradigm for materials discovery, enabled by federal funding reflecting the MGI, employed by the computational group in the Physics Department, and working in tandem with UCF strengths in computer science and energy research (FSEC, CATER), represents an exceptionally promising opportunity for UCF to become a leader. The breadth of experience

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within FSEC and CATER for industrial interactions represents an important asset to impact the local economy. This proposed synergy between computation, experiment, and implementation in applications, promises to create a set of strengths and capabilities that will be unique. Significant interactions and economic impacts that already exist are documented in the appendix. We expect those to accelerate with the new cluster focus.

4. Alignment between cluster objectives and UCF strategic priorities

The cluster objectives align quite closely with the strategic priorities of the departments (Physics, Chemistry, MAE), colleges (COS, Engineering), Centers (FSEC), and the University. Specifically, by training undergraduate and graduate students in the emerging paradigm of computationally-guided materials discovery and application, we can provide the very best in educational opportunities. Students will also have the opportunity to interact and collaborate across the disciplines, from fundamental science, to engineering, and development of applications. The MGI represents a national priority with a clear economic impact, and it is essential for UCF to become preeminent in this area if we want to continue to be an important research university. Finally, there is a significant potential to enhance the ability of Centers, including FSEC, to strengthen ties to local and national industries, and more fully realize our potential as a leading partnership university.

The specific direction of the cluster hire is also aligned with the UCF priority of addressing the issue of climate change. Energy research is critical in slowing growth in carbon emissions without slowing economic growth. Within the past few years, it has been demonstrated that increases in carbon emissions are now less than the rate of economic growth, due in large part to new renewable energy sources coming on line. By addressing this trend, the cluster will impact this important UCF and national priority. The UCF focus in this area is found in the online document (http://rs.acupcc.org/site_media/uploads/cap/448-cap.pdf). 5. Evidence-based impact

Energy plays a central role in all economic activity. In the past, energy shortages and price spikes have driven national and statewide investments in new technology. For example, FSEC was founded by the state legislature in 1975 in response to the energy crisis. Initially the role of FSEC was primarily in testing and certification, but since it has become a leading player in energy research, and yet still plays an important role in the local economy. Similarly, CATER has played a key role in supporting turbine technology for energy and propulsion. This has been an important economic driver for several companies located in Florida as indicated in Figure 2. Faculty affiliated with CATER (Kapat) have been instrumental in preparing students for employment in these local industries. Some additional evidence of the impact of FSEC and CATER in the local economy are further described in the appendix.

More recently, increased awareness of the potential societal and economic impacts of climate change have driven clean energy research (e.g. solar PV, wind, hydrogen fuel cells, etc.), and FSEC is playing an important role there. National investments have begun to yield important advances, and clean energy is becoming economically competitive. In fact, utility solar and rooftop solar power are actually cheaper than electricity generated fossil fuels. For example, the U.S. currently has about 20 GW of installed solar capacity, with another 20 GW is anticipated to come on line in 2015-16. Here, Florida Power and Light has plans to bring three new 75 MW solar arrays online by 2016. However, there are still critical obstacles that require investment, especially in areas related to energy conversion and storage.

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UCF and Florida already have large investments in energy and propulsion technologies (Siemens, Mitsubishi, Lockheed Martin, GE/Alstom, Pratt & Whitney, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Space-X, ATK), and more recently the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center, with an initial investment of $70 million, which partners with UCF and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. These local investments, already partnering with UCF in many areas, will be expected to benefit by closer connections to fundamental research on campus, enabled by existing links to FSEC and CATER. In the appendix, details for an Industry Consortium are presented.

6. Curriculum plan, and plans for strengthen our education mission

The data-driven approach enabled by the MGI represents a new paradigm for materials discovery. It is therefore critical that our students be trained to be leaders in this area. In addition, the nature of research, both in industry and academia, increasingly involve interactions across disciplines. The interdisciplinary structure of our cluster, along a focus on the new paradigm for materials discovery, will be critical to providing students with experiences that are competitive.

To enable this shift in how research is done, and how researchers reach across disciplines, we are already in the process of designing three courses (Fig. 3) we expect to offer to our NSF Trainees should our proposal be funded. Graduate students will take a series of courses that integrate experimental and theoretical techniques, providing them hands-on experience and training in the scientific process of data acquisition and its rationalization. Our interdisciplinary team will develop these courses and offer them to students from several departments in the physical sciences and engineering. Students will be required to take two courses in the physics department which would serve as the prerequisite for the courses that we develop. The first course will focus on providing students the basics of data acquisition and its interpretation in materials science. The second course will center on data visualization. The third and capstone course, will invite students to develop modules to provide a seamless framework for interpretation of experimental data using related computational techniques. We will develop these courses and offer them in the near future.

7. Hiring plan

We plan to make a senior-level hire as a first step, starting in the Fall 2016. This will be an open hire, but we have already identified at least one potential candidate. The purpose of making

Figure 2 Interactions of CATER with local industries dependent on turbine technology in energy and propulsion. The total revenue of companies associated with CATER is over $200 billion. Many of the ~10,000 engineers employed by these companies were educated at UCF.

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a senior hire early on is to add another outside perspective towards the direction of the cluster, including future hires. The proposed hiring areas are:

1. Open-rank position in alternative fuel and its performance 2. Open-rank position for an experimentalist in catalysis (nanoscale) 3. Open-rank position for an experimentalist in catalysis (scale-up engineering) 4. Open-rank position for an experimentalist in photocatalysis 5. Open-rank position for an experimentalist in electrochemistry/electrochemical

engineering

The plan is to hire 3 scientists and 2 engineers engaged in catalysis research and application, who may join any of the departments home to present cluster members. These five positions can be housed in the College of Sciences (Physics, Chemistry), or the College of Engineering (MAE, MSE). Due to the intensely interdisciplinary nature of energy-related research, it is critical that search committees represent these disciplines.

The hiring plan has been developed with significant consultation with the core faculty members of the cluster. Specifically, we have gathered input from the faculty about how the proposed cluster would impact just their careers, with the objective of better understanding what interactions will occur as a result of the cluster hire. Here we provide some selected inputs from our core team that has guided the development of the proposed cluster: Ali Raissi (FSEC, Advanced Energy Research Division (AERD)) It is a well-known fact that properties of the catalyst’s surface affect performance and the surface electronic structure determines the catalytic properties… Interaction between FSEC and faculty with expertise in the computer-based design of catalysts will greatly enhance and strengthen AERD’s research activities in the general areas of renewable energy production and storage and increase our chances of obtaining future federal research dollars. Bill Kaden (Physics) The addition of new collaborators working in the areas of heterogeneous catalysis with emphases in applied benchtop and industrial scale-up reactor studies will synergistically strengthen the viability of my research and thereby enhance my likelihood of winning federal grants on behalf of UCF. Paul Brooker (FSEC) An experimentalist who is able to create novel oxygen reduction or hydrogen oxidation catalysts (as defined by computer modeling) would greatly enhance FSEC’s fuel cell research.… Novel

Figure 3 Courses will be integrated with research to develop expertise in the emerging paradigm for materials discovery. The education plan is currently the focus of an NSF-NRT training proposal.

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catalysts, identified through computer modeling and synthesized by the new cluster hire, could be evaluated using FSEC’s flow battery system. Fernando Uribe-Romo (Chemistry) Collaboration with a scale-up engineer would allow a practical understanding on the larger scale production of highly designed porous materials for potential commercial use, either in solar photocatalysis, energy harvesting, or electrocatalysis.

Finally, it should be noted that we anticipate some flexibility in the specific hiring areas. This might depend arise based on input (e.g. possibly from our first proposed senior hire) that comes after the cluster is selected for Provost support. The important factor is to continue to reevaluate, in consultation with the entire team, what kinds of faculty would result in the largest complementary impact. Salary estimates and start-up costs

The senior hire proposed would be at the associate to full professor level, and it would be expected that the nine-month salary would be ~$100-120K/year. . For the other four positions, probably predominantly assistant-professor hires, we estimate a salary ~$80K/year. The total salary commitment from UCF is then about $420-440K/year.

The estimated total start-up costs for the 5 faculty are ~$3M. This is then ~$600K per faculty, with a significant share going towards development of a shared collaborative lab that might serve the needs of other faculty at UCF, including those already in the cluster. As noted elsewhere, the plan to attract top faculty includes this very competitive start-up package, plus leveraging of existing research facilities and equipment from FSEC and the Materials Characterization Facility (MCF). Space needs

In the short term, research space for the new faculty might be found in the PSB building, which houses both Physics and Chemistry departments. A typical hire requirement would be 1-2 600 sq. ft. labs, which have generally been fitted with hoods for chemistry research. Over a longer term, we propose housing the new faculty in lab space in the Interdisciplinary Research Building for 2017 and beyond. Some of the equipment that might be of general use for energy-related research could be located there for shared use within the interdisciplinary cluster. As noted below, some useful equipment already purchased by FSEC could be relocated for general use by cluster faculty. Finally, FSEC has 5000 sq. ft. of laboratory space available at its own facility which currently houses some of the most important pieces of equipment, and would be available for use by the new hires, or at least used by FSEC scientists in collaborative work within the cluster. Attracting the most promising faculty to UCF

In planning our proposed cluster hires, we have placed an emphasis on how to maximize that attractiveness of UCF to prospective hires. Specifically, the Physics Department at UCF is recognized as an important player in computational catalysis and surface science research. FSEC is a recognized leader in several energy-research areas (e.g. fuel cells, hydrogen, solar PV, etc), with demonstrated ability to lead large efforts. We believe that this will be extremely attractive to future hires who want to conduct research in a university environment, supervise students, but also have the possibility of playing a role or even leading large-scale research projects in

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collaboration with FSEC. Moreover, FSEC employs several non-tenured scientists, who are themselves extremely accomplished people, who can be important collaborators for future faculty hires. Finally, grants run through FSEC might also be used to support UCF graduate students supervised by faculty hired into the cluster. This mechanism has been used successfully by FSEC to support graduate students, but here we propose that it should be used as a way to make UCF attractive to future hires.

Below, we describe other aspects of our plan to leverage existing strengths and resources at UCF, in addition to competitive start-up packages, that will enhance our ability to hire top candidates to UCF. Enhancing research capacity, leverage existing facilities and equipment, and shared research space

To maximize our ability to attract top faculty hires, we have developed a plan to leverage existing facilities and equipment, in addition to equipment purchased in competitive start-up packages. In order to maximize interaction and collaboration between new and existing members of the cluster, including their students, equipment that is broadly applicable to several researchers will be located in shared space. Some shared equipment may be located at FSEC, while some may be relocated on campus at the new Interdisciplinary Research Building (IRB). A model for equipment support to enable shared interests has been pursued in the past by FSEC. Specifically, the cluster leader Orlovskaya uses fuel-cell test stands originally purchased by FSEC in her laboratory on campus. Similar arrangements are envisioned for future hires.

Cluster core members of the cluster have key equipment that may be used in collaboration with new faculty. These include Uribe-Romo, Kaden, and Tetard. In the appendix, we list some of the equipment already here at UCF that can be used in collaborative cluster projects, including FSEC equipment that might be used to augment starting packages and potentially be moved to campus. We will also explore potential opportunities for large equipment grants emerging from the cluster hire. Some additional equipment that would be broadly useful for the cluster would include a scanning electrochemical microscope, which might be part of a startup package. We will develop a plan for maintenance costs, which may involve some combination of user fees (e.g. typical of clean rooms around campus, and also the MCF) and also overhead funds generated from grants. Larger equipment may require separate consideration, and some equipment likely will remain within the labs of individual faculty (e.g. as part of the their startup packages).

Establish a symposium series and “Virtual Energy-Research Institute”

We plan to establish a “Virtual Energy Research Institute” (VERI), and begin the symposium series in Summer 2015 (whether the proposed cluster hire is successful or not) starting with the core members describing their own research interests. The core team has toured FSEC facilities and had numerous discussions, but continued discussions will be critical in the next few months. In Fall 2015, we plan to begin inviting external speakers that might lead to candidates for the cluster hires. We have already had extensive discussions about the potential hires (especially between the Physics Department and FSEC), and we believe that a symposium series would be an effective way to facilitate these interactions. Speakers might themselves be potential hires, or more likely their students and postdocs.

The symposium series addresses another obstacle for interactions between campus faculty and FSEC. Specifically, the fact that FSEC is a 40-minute drive from the main UCF campus

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creates an additional challenge. We will take advantage of new remote conferencing equipment in the UCF physics department that was originally funded by NASA for the CLASS SSERVI at UCF. This is used mainly in the Physics Department and FSI to support CLASS activities, but is generally available to all faculty in the Physics Department. Similar facilities exist at FSEC. Enabled by Adobe Connect software, the system allows for remote participation in talks. It is even convenient to have the presenter located remotely (e.g. using his/her own desktop computer). The talks will be recorded and archived. As an example of this, please see the archived FSI seminars (http://fsi.ucf.edu/seminars/). In addition to connecting FSEC better with campus, this idea can serve to connect any energy-related research to the entire campus and beyond.

By developing VERI, we will establish an effective tool to collaborate across institutions, and effectively lead the kinds of large proposal initiatives and projects that we envision. Moreover, by making our seminars available on the web interface, the activities of the cluster will be extremely visible both within and outside of UCF. Recruitment plan

The recruitment plan is based first on effective leveraging the strengths of UCF to make the positions as attractive as we can. To attract a top senior hire, we will offer the opportunity to play a role in the future direction and hiring in the cluster along with the existing Steering Committee (see appendix). Other aspects to recruit top faculty include elements described previously, including leveraging shared space and existing equipment, and the strength of interactions between FSEC and the tenure-earning faculty on Campus, facilitated by the Virtual Energy Research Institute (VERI).

The Steering Committee will work to draft the advertisement for placement in the relevant chemistry, engineering, and physics journals, and identify members of the Search Committee(s). Representation on the Search Committee(s) will include representation from each relevant department and center. Increase scholarly and creative works and ensure interdisciplinary publications

The cluster will increase collaborative scholarly works beyond the increase to be expected by adding five new tenure-earning lines. The research areas proposed are highly interdisciplinary. The energy research proposed will be directed in part by physics-based models, but the results are largely applicable to areas traditionally in the chemistry discipline. Many of the publications from the core group within the Physics Department are already found in what are usually considered to be chemistry journals. By more effectively linking fundamental work to engineering efforts and applications, the breadth of journals spanned by our work will be enhanced, and the number of collaborative articles will increase.

The science focus of the hires and the group will benefit from interactions with an external Scientific Advisory Committee. The people we plan to involve on this committee represent top Universities, National Labs, and industry. The current list includes: Mark Barteau (U. Mich.), Tony Heinz (Columbia), Ulrike Diebold (U. Vienna), Michael Henderson (PNNL), and Susan Vogel (Saint-Gobain Advanced Ceramics Corporation).

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Appendix

I. Leadership and organizational plan The leadership of the cluster will consist of a Steering Committee with the cluster leads,

(Schelling, Orlovskaya), along with representation from FSEC/MSE (Fenton), CATER/MAE (Kapat), Chemistry (Uribe-Romo), and Physics (Rahman). We anticipate that the steering committee will also involve the senior hire as soon as possible. The primary goal of the steering committee will be to guide the direction of future hires. The Steering Committee will work with potential hiring departments (most likely Physics, Chemistry, MSE, and MAE), department Chairs, and college Deans to identify potential candidates for future hires. Finally, it is also anticipated that the steering committee will identify and lead in larger grant proposals.

The leadership will also include a broader Technical and Program Committee, which will be comprised of all cluster faculty, and potentially others. The role of this committee will be to develop a working model for shared space within the IRB, including shared equipment, as described below, with the objective of facilitating interactions and leveraging existing resources for future hires.

With the collaboration and support of Department Chairs, the Technical and Program Committee will work to develop interdisciplinary curriculum to support activities in the cluster. Some of these areas have been outlined earlier in the proposal, and are currently the topic of an NSF-NRT proposal being prepared by the Physics Department (PI Rahman). Depending on how this goes, it may make sense to spin off a separate Curriculum Committee to support future directions for curriculum development.

Finally, we plan to develop an Industrial Consortium to advise the technical direction of the cluster, and to best connect the work of the cluster with interested industrial partners. The directions for future hires will be developed by the Steering Committee in consultation with the Industrial Consortium. We have several avenues and contacts available to develop this aspect of our plan. Specifically, we will interact with Dan Holladay who leads similar activities at ICAMR, and who participated as a team member in the UCF led “BEST Storage Hub” proposal. We will also build on the current model used by PV Manufacturing Consortium and Fuel Cell Membrane Program at FSEC. At FSEC, Fenton will help lead in this area, including identifying industry partners. Finally, we will use existing contacts and partners who interact with CATER as members of our Industrial Consortium (e.g. see Fig. 2).

Structured in this way, the leadership and organizational plan will involve all major stakeholders best positioned to provide direction to the cluster. Future funding will be secured by developing a plan for shared space and resources, as well as a plan for large proposals to major agencies. By making best use of our industry contacts and developing the Industrial Consortium, we will maximize our impact on the local economy, identify the most promising research directions, and potentially even find industrial funding sources that will be essential to the success of the new faculty and the cluster at large. Finally, by structuring the plan in this way, we will be able to address future needs of local industry, which will be critical for placing graduating students (at all levels) after graduation.

II. Relevant past funding and projects, and potential future funding sources

CATER (Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research) – The funding that lead to CATER started with NASA Glenn Research Center funding of $2.76M. Several UCF faculty participated in this effort, including Schelling and Kapat. The center was awarded $1.7M in 2008 from the Florida Board of Governors as a State Center of Excellence. This was followed by

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$640K from AFRL, and $350K from the FAA Center for Excellence in Commercial Space Transportation. As a result of this success in obtaining external funding, CATER was officially formed as a center under the College of Engineering in 2012. Since 2012, funding for CATER has included strong connectivity and interaction with industry, including GE, Siemens, Florida Turbine Technologies, and Pratt and Whitney to name a few, with a strong pipeline for graduate employment. At time of the latest annual assessment: 49 undergraduate and 58 graduate research assistants (with 24 and 10, respectively, from the underrepresented groups) are being specially trained in the various research laboratories affiliated with CATER. Kapat is the founder and current director of CATER. Several UCF faculty are affiliated with CATER, including Sumathi, Raghavan, Gou, and Mackie.

DOE-High Temp Membrane for PEM Fuel Cells – Fenton was the PI and lead of this $19 million ($3 million to UCF) 5 year project involving BekkTech LLC, Scribner, Giner Inc., Fuel Cell Energy, Colorado School of Mines, Case Western Reserve University, Vanderbilt University, University of Tennessee, Penn State University, Arizona State University, and Clemson University, to develop novel membranes for PEM fuel cells. Fenton also was the Technical Lead of the U.S. DOE’s High Temperature Membrane Working Group (HTMWG) (http://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/high-temperature-membrane-working-group). Brooker was heavily involved in this activity, applying electrodes to the membranes and testing their performance in a standardized performance test.

DOE-U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) – The PVMC is an industry-led consortium for cooperative R&D among industry, university, and government partners to accelerate the development, commercialization, manufacturing, field testing and deployment of next-generation solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. UCF’s FSEC manages the $10M dedicated to the c-Si PVMC programs and activities within the PVMC, currently with 14 collaborative projects being carried out in collaboration across the c-Si PVMC member base. There are currently 39 members in the PVMC, 12 specifically signed up for the c-Si activities, with more than 50 additional collaborative and non-member participants. Members and participants span the entire supply chain (e.g., cell/module manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, materials suppliers), with c-Si PVMC members currently offering greater than $500K per year of cash and in-kind support to collaborative consortium projects. It is potentially a critical element of a new UCF manufacturing center initiative in Osceola County. FSEC was awarded $10 M in DOE, UCF and Industry funds, to run c-Si PVMC for five years starting September 1, 2011. http://www.uspvmc.org/technology_csi_PVMC.html

DOE-EFRC (Energy Frontier Research Center) This was an unsuccessful UCF proposal lead by Talat Rahman in the area of computationally-guided catalyst development (Tailoring Properties of Two-Dimensional Defect and Hybrid Materials for Catalysis). This was a very large proposal that included participants at other US institutions, including UC Riverside, U. Nebraska, SUNY Stony Brook, ORNL, BNL, USC, Duke, and Northwestern University. Several members of the cluster team were also part of the EFRC proposal, including Orlovskaya, Brooker, Kara, and Sumathi. The UCF budget for this proposal was for approximately four years with $2400K each year. The proposed cluster hire would bring many important pieces to UCF to help the chances of success, and would strengthen the local effort and make the proposal less dependent on external collaboration and more convincing to the DOE.

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Battery and Electrochemical Storage Technology (BEST) Hub. This was a large proposal to DOE led by UCF’s FSEC with several academic, national lab, and industry partners. The theme of the proposal was energy storage and conversion, with focus areas including fuel cells, flow batteries, electrochemical capacitors, and metal-air batteries for storage of energy. Specifically, the BEST Hub was to: Create a Bell Laboratories type facility that promotes face to face as well as virtual collaboration; Engage and integrate the best and brightest minds from Universities, National Labs, and Industry; Encourage high risk/high reward research; Expand the base of scientific and engineering fundamentals underpinning electrochemical approaches to energy storage while producing the next generation workforce; Ensure wide dissemination of research results; Develop paths to rapid commercialization of new technologies. While the proposal was unsuccessful, it was extremely competitive, and demonstrated the ability of UCF to organize and lead a large effort involving top institutions. Ultimately this type of large effort would be helped by better integration of campus activities with FSEC, and also bring more research money to campus to support cluster faculty members. The partners in the BEST proposal are shown graphically in Fig. 3.

NSF-DMREF (Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future) Two proposals recently went to this program from NSF, including one from Rahman and one from Schelling (DMREF: Collaborative Research: Computationally-Driven Design ofNanoscale Interconnect Materials, $770K). Both pending proposals focus on materialsdiscoveryviacomputationalapproaches,includingiterativeapproacheswithexperimentaldesign.Schelling’spendinggrantistoworkwithexperimentalgroupsatUCFandColumbiato identify new materials for metallic interconnects. Rahman’s pending proposal isparticularlyrelevantfortheproposedclusterhire.

NSF-IPP (Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships) Orlovskaya had one past and one active project from IPP (I-Corps: Robust and Efficient Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Clean Energy Generation, $50,000, 10.01.12-03.31.13. The project was devoted to learning on how to commercialize the energy conversion technology of efficient and robust solid oxide fuel cells developed in the PI’s Laboratory of Ceramics for Energy Conversion. The CeraPower, UCF spin out company was formed as an outcome of the performed project. Another currently active IPP project (AIR Option 1: Technology Translation - Superadiabatic Combustion in Porous Media for Efficient Heat Production, $150,000, 09.01.13-08.28.15). The idea originated from the previous I-Corps project and is now moving to the next state for development of the prototype water heater. DOE (Kara, Rahman) Kara has a current grant from the DOE ($500K) to study the adsorption of organic molecules on metal surfaces. This has direct implications and relevance for the development of organic solar cells. Rahman has had more than one grant from DOE over the past several years that are

Figure 3 Partners for the UCF-led BEST proposal to DOE, including academic institutions and nation labs, and an industrial consortium.

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relevant to the cluster hire (Controlling Structural, Electronic, and Energy Flow Dynamics of Catalytic Processes Through Tailored Nanostructures. $600K per year to UCF; Theoretical and computational studies of functional nanoalloy and other nanomaterials, $405K for three years). Total funding to Rahman since 2007 is over 5 million dollars. Energy Whiz Olympics. FSEC has many outreach activities, including the Energy Whiz Olympics offered to K-12 students. In addition to serving an important educational mission, this would be an area that cluster faculty at UCF could become more involved with. In addition to enhancing UCF outreach activities, this would also provide material for outreach required for NSF proposals, and might become a focus of an NSF III. Leveraging existing resources

In addition to competitive startup packages, we expect to leverage existing facilities and equipment at UCF to attract top candidates to the new positions. Some of this equipment is currently at FSEC, but we will explore relocating some items to shared space in the IRB. This will generate a centralized facility, broadly usable by the cluster and other faculty, and generate a shared space for communication and interaction. Some equipment that might attract faculty include:

FSEC: Perkin Elmer Diamond TG/DTA-MS; Altamira AMI 200 TPD/MS; Perkin-Elmer Spectrum 100 FTIR with Universal ATR Accessory (UATR), Shimadzu UV/VIS; Rotating Disc Electrode (RDE); Dionex DX 500 Gradient Ion Chromatograph/ HPLC (cation and anion columns available); Perkin Elmer Diamond Differential Scanning Calorimeter; Multiple Scribner 850C fuel cell test stands; 8-channel Membrane Electrode Assembly Durability Test Station (MEADS); Electrode application capabilities; Multiple potentiostats; Ball-mill; Light source (for photocatalysis using a standard light spectrum). Chemistry (Uribe-Romo Lab): Micromeritics ASAP2020 with water vapor adsorption capability; Rigaku Miniflex Powder X-ray Diffractometer; CH-Instruments Bipotentiostat Galvanostat with AC capabilities; MBraun Ar-filled glovebox (for Li-battery research); 300 W Xe-lamp. Physics (Kaden Lab): 30 ft3 Ar-filled glove-box; Custom-built multi-chambered UHV surface-science apparatus; Specs dual-anode X-ray photoemission spectroscopy; Specs tunable ion gun for low energy ion scattering spectroscopy, sputtering, and depth-profiling analysis; Stanford Research Systems residual gas analyzer 0-200 AMU mass-spectrometer for surface reactivity studies; RHK Pan-Freedom continuous flow low temperature (~15 K) scanning tunneling/atomic force microscope/spectrometer for sub-atomic-scale surface analysis. CATER: Micro-turbine for fuel testing; CT X-ray; Fuel coking rig for thermal stability characterization; Fuel distillation rig Cyclic oven for long-term thermal stability of fuels NSTC (Tetard lab/shared facilities): Witec AFM Raman Confocal microscope Alpha 300AR; Visible lasers (514nm, 532nm, 405nm, 633nm); fiber coupled solar simulator and monochromator; IR black body light source; Multimode and Dimension 3100 shared NSTC AFM facility including conductive AFM and electrostatic force microscopy.