UT Headlines

UT’s proposal to transform Scott Park into a campus focused on alternative energy using stimulus money has been picked up in the Chronicle of Higher Education and an AP story as been getting nation-wide coverage, including local dailies like the New York Times and USA Today.

Ohio college eyes alternative energy campus

Fast-becoming a hub for solar research, the University of Toledo now wants to create a separate campus that would focus only on alternative energy.

School leaders are hoping to use federal stimulus money to make the change and think dedicating one campus toward solar, wind and new energy research could make the university to stand out in the field.

“If we do seize the moment, we can elevate our stature,” said Frank Calzonetti, the school’s vice president of research development.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold, provost and executive vice president for health affairs, on Obama’s health care policy outline:

Michele Martinez, interim dean of students, on why a spike in violence in Mexico may make students want to think twice about making it a Spring Break destination.

A story posted yesterday on the New York Times Web site points out that environmental science programs at universities across the nation are growing and mentioned The University of Toledo (alongside Stanford) as “working to beef up their alternative-energy research”. It also links to the Blade story on UT’s initial proposal to transform Scott Park into one focused on alternative energy research.

UT’s alternative energy research efforts get a great deal of deserved credit, but something people like Jon Strunk in UT’s communications office should – and will – be doing a better job of is highlighting the strength of UT’s environmental sciences research.

Especially when combined with the efforts of Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the 80-plus students learning in – and more often out – of environmental classrooms are involved in some of the newest research, whether at the Stranahan Arboretum or the Lake Erie Center. These graduates will be well positioned for the careers the New York Times article is forecasting.

The strength of UT’s program is its diversity. Environmental Sciences Chair Dr. Michael Phillips pointed out to me that at UT students can also focus in environmental ethics, environmental economics, environmental planning and at least one other area he mentioned but I forgot and didn’t write down. It is the integration of “green” into so many aspects of our everyday life that makes it so relevant to our future and UT’s program is focused on teaching that interconnectedness.

A perfect example of said interconnectedness is a story in yesterday’s Newsday that quotes UT’s Dr. Alison Spongberg about a grave situation regarding a local water supply.

Also for those who may have missed it, Channel 13 discusses the proposed Scott Park alternative energy renaissance with UT’s Chuck Lehnert, vice president of Facilities and Construction – who, should UT get the stimulus money needed for this project – will have a lot of facilities to construct.

I know I’ve left stuff out. Environmental Sciences/Studies students and faculty please chime in.

Dr. Don Stierman, UT professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences, and Dr. Sanjay Khare, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, join 13abc’s Jeff Smith to discuss gasoline prices and the future of energy costs on The Roundtable.

While much of it is over my head, UT astronomy professor Adolf Witt and a colleague, Donald York from the University of Chicago, have discovered what they believe to be the cause of the giant dust cloud, the Red Rectangle.

To avoid the risk of my astronomy amateurishness messing up (or further messing up) the details, I’ll just ask you to read the story from sciencedaily.com. UT astronomers have on a regular basis been at the forefront of research into the origins of our universe.

My thanks to Joel Lipman for the assist on letting me know of this story.

And my apologies for the “above my head” pun at the beginning.

For those not fascinated with Robert’s Rules of Order, C-Span or the pleasure that comes with the successful defeat of an amendment to the rule preceding the acceptance of the friendly amendment offered by the gentlelady from the commonwealth of wherever, differences of 10s of billions of dollars between stimulus packages passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate may be, what’s the word… uninteresting.

However, as several stories have recently pointed out, much of what the Senate jettisoned to make the stimulus bill more politically palatable (alliteration’s awesome!) is the type of money Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland was counting on to extend Ohio’s tuition freeze, and the type of money college presidents and chief financial officers across the state are counting on to minimize layoffs to the degree possible.

As Scott Scarborough, UT’s vice president for finance and administration highlighted recently in his journal, Budget Exchange – designed to help remove any of the mystery from UT’s budget process – UT’s budget will be built on the realities of the state’s budget which, in turn, will be built based on the amount of federal money Ohio, and other states, receive from the federales.

Ohio’s governor has since his 2006 election held up higher education as a top priority, but his continued ability to do that may well depend on where on the spectrum of House vs. Senate the stimulus bill ultimately lands. I’m rooting for the House. My grandchildren, I think, are rooting for China to misplace several kajillion U.S. IOUs.

well, we’ll continue to need roads. At least until the solar flying cars are ready to go. And when they are, I’ll be continuing to cajole one more mile out of my ‘96 Sable and shaking my fist at those flying-car jerks who think they’re so special first in line.

But whether the solar panels are for flying solar cars, NASA or electricity generation, much of the preparation for and research into a solar-power infrastructure is being done here at UT.

There was further evidence of that at the Dana Center last Thursday as UT hosted a regional conference on the solar industry. Through my extensive UT network of sources I learned The first person I saw over there told me that some 120 people had signed up to attend from universities, businesses and venture capital organizations. Almost 200 ended up attending.

As John Lushetsky, program manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Program for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, explained at the conference and in the Blade:

“To go from the 1 gigawatt of generation capacity that we have now [in the United States] to the 170 to 200 gigawatts called for by 2030 amounts to a 26 percent compounded annual growth rate over the next 20 years,” John Lushetsky explained. “That’s a higher sustained growth rate than any industry has ever been asked to do before.”

For those unfamiliar with electricity capacity measurements, for a comparison, the current solar generation capacity of 1 gigawatt is enough to power half a million or more homes, 10 million 100-watt light bulbs and just short of the power needed for a trip to 1985.

As I’ve heard Frank Calzonetti, UT’s VP for research development, say more than once, solar energy and alternative fuel research and commercialization isn’t something UT only thinks it is very good at. It’s something UT is very good at. And you should tell your friends.