A major goal for the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology is to help Penn faculty initiate new synergistic collaborations that will allow them to take advantage of the broad expertise across Penn in energy science to achieve viable solutions to secure sustainable energy. Towards this end, the Vagelos Institute Seed Grant Program provides short-term funding to new cross-disciplinary collaborations among faculty in the Penn School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Science. Seed grants are awarded on the basis of intellectual excellence, alignment with the mission and research priorities of the Institute, and the likelihood that the grant will foster results with the potential to lead to new, externally funded, energy-focused collaborative research grants.
Seed projects that have been funded include:
- Chemical Upcycling of Post-Consumer Polymer Waste to Reduce Energy Use and GHG Emissions
- Karen Winey, Karen Goldberg, Raymond Gorte, Marisa Kozlowski & Daeyeon Lee
- Engineering Away CO2 with Mine Wastes
- Jennifer Wilcox, Eric Stach, Aleksandra Vojvodic
- Enhancing Photo-Catalysts for Highly-Selective Energy Transformation
- Aleksandra Vojvodic, John Vohs, Chris Murray & Eric Stach
- Functionalization of C-H Bonds Using Cerium Photo-Catalysis
- Eric Schelter & Patrick Walsh
- Heterogenizing Homogeneous Catalysts for Energy Applications
- Karen Goldberg, Ray Gorte & Aleksandra Vojvodic
- Nanoporous Active/Inactive Composites for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Battery Anodes
- Eric Detsi, Eric Stach & Andrew Rappe