April 2017 Newsletter

The Director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Greg Boebinger, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the country’s highest professional honors. As one of only 228 new fellows, Boebinger joins an elite group that has included notable people including Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy and Alexander Graham Bell

 

Innovation Park resident, Nhu Energy is leading the effort on a project called The Florida Alliance for Accelerating Solar and Storage Technology Readiness (FAASSTeR). This project was selected through a competitive process to receive $1.75 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, under its State Energy Strategies program.

The funding will allow the team to kick off a three year project to provide detailed studies and analysis, and assist in developing the strategies that can lead to successful expansion of solar, energy storage and other distributed energy resources in the state of Florida. The project is also expected to reveal new value streams possible from solar energy in combination with energy storage and other distributed energy resources, and to assist utilities in strategic planning and program development based on the project results.

Nhu Energy is working in partnership with the Florida Municipal Electric Association, as well as the Office of Energy at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the National Renewable Energy Lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Florida Utilities.

Last week, it was announced that FSU’s High Performance Materials Institute and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering were joining a major-multiuniversity project funded by NASA that will focus on biological engineering in space and next-generational materials. At both facilities, scientists will specifically work on the development of carbon nanotube-based structural materials that can help create next-gen space vehicles, power systems and even potentially habitats.

On Earth Day, April 22nd, the nation is marching in support of science and the scientific community. The Tallahassee Scientific Society is sponsoring the local effort.

According to the March for Science page, “The March for Science champions robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity. We unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence based policies in the public interest.

The March for Science is a celebration of science. It’s not only about scientists and politicians; it is about the very real role that science plays in each of our lives and the need to respect and encourage research that gives us insight into the world.”