There’s further evidence in today’s USA Today that The University of Toledo’s efforts in solar and renewable energy are getting noticed.

UT’s leadership role in solar education, job creation and regional redevelopment is the focus of a wonderful article featuring a picture of recent physics grad Rosa Zartman, who’s job in solar is a perfect metaphor for the collective efforts of this University and the many regional partners who are making a national name for Toledo, Ohio.

It’s long, but well worth the read:

Toledo reinvents itself as a solar-power innovator

This city is trying to swap its Rust Belt image for a new identity as a hub of solar-energy research and production.

The mission is being led by an unusual partnership of business, academia and government that could be a model for other aging industrial cities. “We are ready to do anything; we are ready to try anything,” says University of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs.

Like many manufacturing cities, Toledo has struggled with the loss of jobs and tax revenue, but it has taken pieces of its past as the glass capital to create a new future in solar energy.

The payoff so far: At least 6,000 people work in the area’s solar industry. First Solar (FSLR), which makes solar panels, was founded here and employs more than 1,000 at its 900,000-square-foot plant here. There are more than a dozen solar-related start-up companies in the area. The University of Toledo is home to top solar researchers and has a business incubator that provides business services to solar entrepreneurs. It has graduated four solar companies and is working with six more.

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