Energy Sec. Bodman Will Tour Energy Research Labs, Speak At NC State
U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman will see several examples of North Carolina State University's broad-based approach to energy research when he makes a visit to campus Tuesday, Oct. 23.
Bodman will tour energy research labs, make a presentation on U.S. energy programs and policy to students and the general public, and participate in an energy roundtable with leaders from state government and the energy industry.
The presentation is free and open to the public and will be held from 1:30-2:15 p.m. in the auditorium of Nelson Hall on the north side of campus at the intersection of Dan Allen Drive and Hillsborough Street.
Bodman's first stop will be at an experimental solar power generation station, the second largest solar power generation installation in the state and a unique public-private partnership that will serve as a working model for future partnerships to co-develop renewable energy projects in North Carolina and the Southeast.
The secretary also will visit NC State's nuclear reactor, the first university-run reactor in the nation. With 1.0 megawatts of power, the PULSTAR reactor also is the only university-based large reactor in the southeast. In 2002, in response to the Department of Energy's Innovations in Nuclear Infrastructure and Education (INIE) program, NC State established and remains the lead of the Multi-University Southeast INIE Consortium (MUSIC).
Through MUSIC, NC State received $2.5 million for the PULSTAR project to create a nuclear science and engineering center with world-class capabilities that are comparable and complementary to the capabilities at U.S. national centers and laboratories, meaning students in the program are learning on equipment similar to what they will find as they graduate and move into the industry. With support from the Department of Energy, NC State offers distance education reactor lab courses to nuclear engineering students at other universities.
Bodman also will tour the Solid State Power Electronics Center, where solid-state power electronics systems are being developed to control the transmission and distribution of electricity. The Bonneville Power Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, Sandia National Lab and others participate in the project.
At the Forest Biotechnology lab, Bodman will see breakthroughs in decreasing the lignin content of the fast-growing southern pine tree to decrease the cost of producing energy from trees grown specifically for ethanol production.
Bodman's visit coincides with a heightened focus on energy research and energy-related activities. In his State of NC State speech on Sept. 27, Chancellor James Oblinger announced that the university had created an energy council to create an energy agenda for the campus and that additional activities would include scholarships, undergraduate research, additional partnerships and an Emerging Issues Forum on energy policy.