FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Webpage Highlights Fascinating, Critical Research and Innovations at AAU Universities
Society runs on energy. And America’s research universities are working to answer this fundamental question: How will we ensure we have the energy resources we need for this century and beyond, while making its production and use more efficient and sustainable?
The Association of American Universities, an association of 62 distinguished research universities, has created a new webpage, Research to Secure Our Energy Future, which gathers dozens of important stories from its member universities that are studying myriad ways to improve energy production, storage, and use.
“AAU universities are at the frontier of discovery and invention as we seek ways to make energy resources cleaner, cheaper, and abundant,” said AAU President Mary Sue Coleman. “We want policymakers and the public to understand the extraordinary value of the work carried out at research universities to address our nation’s most serious problems.”
Examples of the research highlighted by the new webpage include these:
- Cary Pint and his team at Vanderbilt University are “MacGyver-ing” junkyard scraps into high-performance batteries.
- A team of MIT engineers, led by Gregory Stephanopoulos, has genetically reprogrammed a strain of yeast that could make possible the renewable production of diesel fuel.
- Michigan State University researchers, under the leadership of Nelson Sepulveda, have created a way to harvest energy from human motion that moves us one step closer to charging cellphones and other devices simply by walking.
The social media conversation about the webpage will use the hashtags # energyresearch and #research.
This is the fourth in a series on AAU university research that addresses major societal issues. The first three are Helping Solve the Fresh Water Puzzle , Researching the Brain, Seeking Cures , and Helping Safeguard the Connected World , which features articles about cybersecurity research.
Founded in 1900, the Association of American Universities comprises 62 distinguished institutions that continually advance society through education, research, and discovery. Our universities earn the majority of competitively awarded federal funding for academic research, are improving human life and wellbeing through research, and are educating tomorrow’s visionary leaders and global citizens. AAU members collectively help shape policy for higher education, science, and innovation; promote best practices in undergraduate and graduate education; and strengthen the contributions of research universities to society.
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