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Call for Proposals
The University of
Michigan - Fraunhofer Alternative Energy Technologies for
Transportation Program (AETT Program)
http://www.energy.umich.edu/info/umf-rfp.html
Date:
December 18, 2008
U-M and
Fraunhofer unite to ignite energy innovations
ANN ARBOR,
Mich.--- International research collaborations seeking new
ways to fuel transportation will get kick-started by a $2.2
million program sponsored by the University of Michigan and
Fraunhofer.
The
program will award seed money grants of up to $200,000
annually for two years to projects that explore alternative
energy innovations for transportation. Each project must
have researchers from both U-M and Fraunhofer, have strong
potential to eventually attract external funding and
ultimately be good candidates for commercialization.
“Partnerships between U-M and a world-class research and
development organization like Fraunhofer will create an
environment that can quickly move innovations out into the
marketplace,” said Stephen Forrest, U-M vice president for
research. “We have great confidence that this will be an
exciting research opportunity to get technology quickly into
the hands of business and industry, especially in Michigan.”
"Fraunhofer
looks forward to this collaboration because of the
outstanding research expertise and the global importance of
the subject," said Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, President of
Fraunhofer USA.
The
Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute (MMPEI) will work
with U-M’s Office of the Vice President for Research and
Fraunhofer to select and evaluate projects. MMPEI is
dedicated to expanding energy research activities on campus
and translating them into business opportunities for
Michigan.
Projects
will be awarded in 2009 and must be finished within two
years.
Fraunhofer
promotes and undertakes applied research in an international
context, of direct utility to private and public enterprise
and of wide benefit to society as a whole. By developing
technological innovations and novel systems solutions for
their customers, Fraunhofer promotes economic development,
with particular regard for environmental compatibility.
Fraunhofer
USA, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fraunhofer with
its headquarters in Plymouth. Two of its research centers
are located in Michigan and are partnered with a Michigan
university and have received funding from the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation.
The
Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute develops,
coordinates and promotes multidisciplinary energy research
and education at the U-M.
The AETT
Program is planning an informational and signing event in
January on the U-M campus.
For more
information, visit:
www.energy.umich.edu
www.fraunhofer.de
www.fraunhofer.org
Contact:
Sue Nichols, Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute,
(734) 615-5678,
suenic@umich.edu
Frances
Roland-Lee, Fraunhofer, (734) 354-4333
World Record: 41.1%
efficiency reached for multi-junction solar cells at
Fraunhofer ISE
Researchers at
the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have
achieved a record efficiency of 41.1% for the conversion of
sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is concentrated by a
factor of 454 and focused onto a small 5 mm² multi-junction
solar cell made out of GaInP/GaInAs/ Ge (gallium indium
phosphide, gallium indium arsenide and germanium).
The full press release
can be found on our website:
www.ise.fraunhofer.de
To view the pdf
document
Gov. Minner receives Fraunhofer Medal
Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner received the Fraunhofer
Medal, the highest award of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft.
Gov. Minner has been a strong supporter of Fraunhofer's
Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB), located in Newark, DE.
Due to her leadership and support, CMB has become a
reputable, internationally accepted research unit, with a
number of large grants and contracts, including projects
from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, DARPA, and many
industrial partners. The Center was able to flourish
in Delaware's life science network and create partnerships
with universities and other businesses involved in the
biotechnology sector.
The Fraunhofer Medal is awarded and approved by the
Fraunhofer Board of Directors to dignify internal and
external persons with special accomplishments regarding
Fraunhofer.
Guide to
Advanced Empirical Software Engineering
Dr. Forrest Shull, division
director for Measurement and Knowledge Management at
Fraunhofer CESE, has co-edited a book on methods for
empirical software engineering research. This reference book
includes chapters from some of the top international
empirical software engineering researchers and focuses on
the practical knowledge necessary for conducting, reporting
and using empirical methods in software engineering.
Part 1, Research Methods
and Techniques, examines the proper use of various
strategies for collecting and analysing data, and the
uses for which those strategies are most appropriate.
Part 2, Practical
Foundations, provides a discussion of several
important global issues that need to be considered from
the very beginning of research planning.
Part 3, Knowledge
Creation offers insight on using a set of disparate
studies to provide useful decision support. The book
presents reference material with concrete software
engineering examples. It describes some methods that are
less often used in the field, providing less
conventional but still rigorous and useful ways of
collecting data, as well as supplying detailed
information on topics (such as surveys) that often
contain methodological errors.
The book was co-edited with Dr. Janice Singer, who heads the
Human Computer Interaction program at the National Research
Council, Canada, and Dr. Dag Sjøberg, research director of
the software engineering group of the Simula Research
Laboratory, Norway.
International Scientific
Conference
New Cells for New Vaccines III:
From Lab Bench to Clinical Trials
Advances in Vaccine Development
and Disease Prevention
Leading scientists from around
the world met in Wilmington, Delaware
at the Hotel du Pont,
September 28 - October 1, 2008,
to exchange information on innovative approaches for
producing life-saving vaccines and antibodies to combat and
prevent infectious disease epidemics worldwide.
More than 150 scientists and
business leaders in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical
industries convened for the
New Cells for New Vaccines III:
From Lab Bench to Clinical Trials
third annual international scientific conference. The event
was organized by the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular
Biotechnology (under the auspices of the International
Association for Biologicals–IABS, headquartered in Geneva,
Switzerland) and iBioPharma, Inc., both located at the
Delaware Technology Park in Newark, Delaware.
“With threats of
influenza pandemic and bio-terror agents, there is urgent
global need to develop countermeasures against disease
pathogens,” explained Vidadi Yusibov, Ph.D., Executive
Director of the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular
Biotechnology (CMB).
Dr. Yusibov noted
that over the past 50 years, there has been a dramatic
increase in the types of cells that can be used for vaccine
and antibody production. “However, there remains a need for
new cell substrates that can provide safer, faster and more
cost effective production alternatives to current
techniques, especially given the inherent problems in
existing vaccine development technologies.”
“A key aspect of the success and viability of a vaccine
development project is the choice of an appropriate cell
substrate,” said Geoffrey Schild, Ph.D., Chief Scientific
Officer, iBioPharma, Inc., and Chair of the International
Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases.
Dr. Schild currently leads iBioPharma’s development of
vaccines and drugs by producing proteins in plants, using a
technology developed by the nonprofit Fraunhofer USA CMB.
“The advantages
of plant, animal and insect cell systems for vaccine
production is recognized internationally with many projects
in progress,” Dr. Schild said. These projects include
development of respiratory virus, cervical cancer, anthrax
and malaria vaccines, as well as therapeutic antibodies to
treat influenza infections.
Attendees included distinguished scientists and
business leaders who are involved in vaccine development and
production, as well as public health officials, academic
scientists, and medical and veterinary experts.
For more
information
The Laser Institute of America awards Dr.
Eckhard Beyer, Fraunhofer IWS
Fraunhofer CCL's parent
institute director Dr. Eckhard Beyer, Professor at the
University of Technology Dresden and Executive Director of
the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology
IWS in Germany, was awarded the highly distinguished Laser
Institute of America's 2008 Arthur L. Schawlow Award
for his outstanding contributions to laser science and
engineering.
"Prof. Beyer joins a
world-renowned list of past winners including Arthur
Schawlow and Arther Guenther." said Peter Baker,
Executive Director of LIA. One of his first
significant achievements was the development of a rotating
hollow needle for beam diagnostics, which is still in
production world-wide. He is a recognized authority in
laser hybrid welding, laser coating and novel laser beam
techniques.
Laser Institute of America (LIA)
is the international society for laser applications and
safety that has served the industrial, educational, medical,
research, and government communities throughout the world.
The
Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems at
MIT (CSE) officially opened in May. In a
ceremony featuring the German Foreign Minister and the
President of MIT, the MIT Energy Initiative and the
Fraunhofer Energy Alliance signed a Memorandum of
Understanding to collaborate in the founding of the Center.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative awarded
Fraunhofer USA with a $5million matching grant.
The center
will be active in many areas of sustainable energy, with its
initial focuses in solar, green buildings and energy device
prototyping.
The
center's goal in solar is to significantly reduce the cost
of solar over the next five years by employing advanced
materials and "smart" electronics to research, design and
build better "plug-and-play" solar modules. The MIT-Fraunhofer
Center's mission in green buildings is to substantially
reduce the energy consumption of new and retrofitted
structures by adapting state-of-the-art building technology
on both sides of the Atlantic to local needs, while further
developing the technology in conjunction with MIT's
excellence in advanced materials R&D and computer simulation
capabilities.
The Center
is projecting growth to an operating budget of $21 million
in the fifth year.
For more
information about Fraunhofer CSE:
www.cse.fraunhofer.org
Fraunhofer and Johns Hopkins University
began exploring possible joint collaborations in the areas
of imaging, informatics and robotics in interventional
medicine. The purpose is to develop new
minimally-invasive surgical tools using biomedical and
engineering processes.
The first
three projects will be: developing a computer-aided
endoscopy tool for diagnosing gastrointestinal disease, a
laparoscopic surgery tool that will align pre-operative
computerized tomography scans during surgery; and a
new system to tract endoscopes and surgical tools during
medical procedures.
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