The Institute of Transportation Studies along with the College of Engineering is proud to announce the graduate research awards for the first year of the UC Davis Fuel Cell, Hydrogen, & Hybrid Vehicle (FCH2V) Center of Excellence as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) program.  UC Davis was one of 8 universities named as a Center of Excellence under U.S. Department of Energy’s Graduate Automotive Technology Education program.  As stated by the USDOE “The goal of GATE is to train a future workforce of automotive engineering professionals to overcome technology barriers preventing the development and production of cost-effective, high-efficiency vehicles for the U.S. market.”   The program, which provides $600,000 in funding over 5 years, includes funding for 4 graduate research awards.  The awards were made as part of a competitive process which required the researchers to submit a detailed research plan consistent with the goals of the center.

The 2006 awards are awarded to:

David Vernon to study: Hydrogen enrichment via chemical recuperation to increase efficiency and reduce emissions in engines

Brett Williams to study: Light-duty hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle adoption: early markets and vehicle-to-grid power in California

Bryan Jungers to develop: The fuel cell vehicle modeling program to evaluate scalability, dynamics and energy storage

Matt Caldwell to study: The autothermal reformation of bio-alcohol mixtures in a kW-scale reformer as a promising hydrogen production pathway