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ECSU awarded $450K grant for energy research

Students in lab
Posted at 11:59 AM, Dec 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-08 12:07:03-05

Elizabeth City State University is one of three Historically Black Colleges and Universities to be awarded funding from the Nuclear Security Administration for research on alternative energy options.

ECSU received $450,000 from North Carolina Central University for its part in the collaborative research project. The grant will fund Dr. Bijandra Kumar and his team’s ongoing renewable energy research, exploring a more efficient and less expensive means to convert plant carbon dioxide to fuel.

According to a release, ECSU's partnership with NCCU and the NSA will continue to maximize research efforts and methods for multi-scale computer modeling and machine learning to improve materials and devices.

"At ECSU, we have a great facility to perform this research project and many students have gained first-hand experience in the field of nanotechnology,” said Dr. Kumar. “One of the great things about this project is that our students will gain new experiences working at National Research Laboratories with great scientists during the summer.”

One postdoctoral student will be hired to support research activities in Dr. Kumar’s research lab.