<p>Hello all, I was looking for a little advice on if anyone knew of some schools with decent energy research programs to go into, things like fuel cells and photovoltaics, etc. </p>
<p>Specifically, I'm an engineering physics major with experience doing research with fuel cell membranes, and was hoping to find a physics program that would have related research in it, but I'd also take an engineering program. </p>
<p>Most of the schools i've found are big names, like MIT and Caltech and Stanford, and I wanted to look into places a little more approachable that are still decent.</p>
<p>Thank ye all in advance.</p>
<p>You might want to look into Applied Physics and Materials Science & Engineering programs. I'm in MSE at Caltech and we've got a few people doing fuel cell related work.</p>
<p>I'm sure you'd be able to find fuel cell work at Berkeley, CMU, Cornell, UIUC, UMich, or any of the schools that are well ranked under Materials Science.</p>
<p>I second RacinReaver's recommendations. In addition to those already mentioned, you might want to take a look at Georgia Tech, Penn State, and Northwestern. As far as maybe a tier lower, you can look at RPI and I believe the National Fuel Cell Research Center is at UCI.</p>
<p>I think some chemical engineering programs also have energy research. However, I agree that the majority of the significant hardcore fuel cell work is done in materials engineering labs. Most of the chemical engineering and materials science department at the UCs are integrated (meaning they don't really distinquish deeply between research areas because the work is so interdisplinary), examples include UCLA, UCI, and UCD. I think USC also has an integrated department.</p>
<p>Outside of ChemE/Matsci programs, you can probably look into physical chemistry programs too. They do the really cutting edge theoretical work. The engineers just put the theory to the test.</p>
<p>Thanks, I was looking more for the lower tier schools, since I was already familiar with Caltech and them. I was considering App Phys, so it's good to know that I've at least been looking in the right places as far as top-tier schools are concerned. I'd just also like to look at places I can be relatively sure I can get into</p>
<p>What is lower tier? I believe all schools mentioned in this thread for matsci/cheme are basically top 30.
Here's the graduate rankings if you're interested from another thread, but take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Engineering Specialties: Materials
New! Ranked in 2007*</p>
<p>Rank/School Average assessment
score (5.0=highest)
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.8
2. Northwestern University (McCormick) (IL) 4.6
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 4.6
4. University of California–Berkeley 4.5
University of California–Santa Barbara 4.5
6. Stanford University (CA) 4.4
7. Cornell University (NY) 4.3
Pennsylvania State University–University Park 4.3
9. Georgia Institute of Technology 4.2
University of Florida 4.2
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 4.2
12. California Institute of Technology 3.9
Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 3.9
14. Ohio State University 3.7
Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) 3.7
16. Harvard University (MA) 3.5
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) 3.5
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities 3.5
University of Pennsylvania 3.5
20. University of Texas–Austin 3.4
University of Wisconsin–Madison 3.4
22. Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) (MD) 3.3
Lehigh University (Rossin) (PA) 3.3
North Carolina State University 3.3
University of California–Los Angeles (Samueli) 3.3
26. Case Western Reserve University (OH) 3.2
University of California–Davis 3.2
University of California–San Diego (Jacobs) 3.2
University of Virginia 3.2
University of Washington 3.2</p>
<p>Engineering Specialties: Chemical
New! Ranked in 2007*</p>
<p>Rank/School Average assessment
score (5.0=highest)
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.9
2. California Institute of Technology 4.8
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities 4.8
4. University of California–Berkeley 4.7
5. University of Wisconsin–Madison 4.6
6. Stanford University (CA) 4.5
7. Princeton University (NJ) 4.4
University of Texas–Austin 4.4
9. University of California–Santa Barbara 4.3
10. University of Delaware 4.1
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 4.1
12. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 4.0
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 4.0
14. Cornell University (NY) 3.9
Georgia Institute of Technology 3.9
Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) 3.9
17. Northwestern University (McCormick) (IL) 3.8
18. University of Pennsylvania 3.7
19. University of Colorado–Boulder 3.6
20. North Carolina State University 3.5
21. Pennsylvania State University–University Park 3.4
University of Florida 3.4
23. Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) (MD) 3.3
Rice University (Brown) (TX) 3.3
University of Washington 3.3
26. Ohio State University 3.2
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) 3.2
University of California–Davis 3.2
University of California–Los Angeles (Samueli) 3.2
30. Texas A&M University–College Station (Look) 3.1
University of Massachusetts–Amherst 3.1
University of Notre Dame (IN) 3.1</p>
<p>I'm not exactly sure what I'd consider "lower tier" beyond just a school that would be easier to get into than the likes of the Ivy League or MIT or Stanford. Someplace I could into with a good record, but not worry too much about getting in.</p>
<p>Have you considered Colorado School of Mines? We have a pretty good material science program and some students work with NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) in Golden. Colorado</a> School of Mines-Browser Detection </p>
<p>Let me know what you think! imoy at mines.edu</p>
<p>Berkeley the past year beat out many other top universities such as MIT for 500 million from British Petroleum, the largest corporate partnership ever, to create a Biosciences institute with the sole goal of researching alternative fuels... I think this puts Berkeley on the forefront and would probably be a good place for you to look at. Also Berkeley has Lawrence Berkeley National Lab right behind the campus up in he hills which have a plethora of research opportunities for Berkeley students.</p>
<p>I don't think Lawrence Berkeley National Lab is only for Berkeley students.. in addition alternative fuels is a hot field in all top tier universities.</p>
<p>jmilton90 did I say it was only for Berkeley students? I said it has a plethora of research opportunities for Berkeley students.....which it does due to its location adjacent to the university and many students do work at labs at LBNL. Plus, yes alternative fuels is a hot field at all top tier universities but none of them just scored a 500 million dollar deal dedicated solely for research of alternative fuels and energy.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that money is earmarked for biofuels research. There are methanol fuel cells to be sure and the Helios photosynthesis replication program in Chemistry may be related, but I'd do a little investigating before jumping in and expecting potential advisers to be flush with funding. Also, in terms of the actual institute, there's got to be a 3-4 year lag for the institute to go up. Stanley Hall, the new Bioengineering building, was started when I was a freshman, 4 years ago and just opened as we were graduating. Besides, Berkeley is definitely on par with Stanford, MIT and Caltech, so I don't think it's what the OP is looking for.</p>
<p>As far as school selection, I don't think it would be that hard for someone who has previous research experience to get into a school like University of Illinois or GAtech, as long as your GPA and recs are decent. Those are right behind the top 4, and have admit rates of like 30-40%. Incidentally, the BP $500 million grant is joint funding to Illinois and Berkeley. It's just the actual building that will go up in Berkeley.</p>
<p>Berkeley is receiving 80% of the funding so I would venture to say that most of the research will be done at Berkeley so its not just the building. Plus I'm not sure your right that the money is "earmarked" only for biofuels, especially because I read that due to Illinois expertise in agriculture Berkeley decided to partner with them so I can't see both institutions focusing solely on biofuels and not say solar. The institute is already in operation on the Berkeley campus, and perhaps it will be 2 years before the new building for the institute is built, does it really matter as long as the institute is in operation and research is going on? Plus the state of CA is also giving additional funds to Berkeley as a result of this agreement. Also one of my GSI students in my enviro sci class is right know doing research on solar power up at LBNL, which I think having LBNL is a major resource. I'm not saying to the OP go blindly to Berkeley, but definitely look into Berkeley.</p>
<p>Yeah, there's a lot of solar work in the chem department up in LBL. That's what I was saying about Helios - Paul Alivisatos's solar energy conversion/biostorage program. But my impression is that it is still bio-related/inspired, not a strict photovoltaic system - and from the OP's examples, I'm not sure how much he wants to go into that.</p>