THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
The
University of South Carolina (USC) was established in 1801. The present
enrollment at the Columbia campus numbers 23,776 students of which 16,461
are undergraduate the remaining 7,315 being graduate and professional
students. There are 17 colleges at the main campus along with 7 branch
campuses located throughout the state. The University of South Carolina
System has an annual budget of $ 862 million with the Columbia campus
annual budget set at $660 million for FY 05-06. A total of 72
baccalaureate degree programs, 117 masters degree programs, 58 doctoral
programs and 3 professional degree programs are offered at the Columbia
campus. As South Carolina’s most comprehensive research university, USC
is a leader in research that benefits South Carolinians and in public
service programs that reach every corner of the state. Annual support for
USC research currently exceeds $ 142 million. The USC Research Foundation
administers the external research contracts for USC. Additional
information on the foundation can be found at
http://www.sc.edu/research/usc_research_foundation.shtml
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND
COMPUTING
USC
has decided that the NSF I/UCRC for Fuel Cells will be currently
positioned in the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC).
The College consists of Departments of Chemical Engineering, Electrical
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Computer
Science and Engineering. The Department of Chemical Engineering currently
includes 19 tenure-track faculty members and 6 research faculty members
and in this edition of the 2007
PROSPECTUS the reader will find
faculty primarily from Chemical Engineering. Faculty members from other
Departments and Colleges are included as appropriate for the projects in
this 2007
PROSPECTUS. It is the expectation
of the Director that additional faculty will join the Center, as research
projects are available from industrial members.
The Department of Chemical Engineering has the strength to
initiate and coordinate the Center because it has a strong graduate
program and a history of significant funding in the areas of
electrochemical engineering and catalysis. The Department of Chemical
Engineering annually enrolls over 150 undergraduate majors and 65 doctoral
candidates. Research funding in chemical engineering has grown steadily
since 1987 to an amount that has the Department ranked as 17, 11, 15, 19,
and 20 in research expenditures from 1998 through 2002, respectively
[Chemical & Engineering News, Nov. 15, 2004].
A large fraction of this funding is related to electrochemistry and
electrochemical engineering projects. An average of 9 Ph.D. chemical
engineers per year have completed their studies in the Department during
the past five years.
Electrochemical engineering was boosted substantially in 1993 when Dr.
White was hired as chair of the Department and as the Westinghouse
Distinguished Scientist. Dr. White arrived with Dr. Popov and by joining
with Drs. Van Zee and Weidner the Department has one of the largest groups
in electrochemical engineering in the world. Approximately half (~30) of
the Department’s Ph.D. students work on electrochemical or fuel cell
related research. The Department of Chemical Engineering is the site for
the largest NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in the
nation. With the REU, 167 of the country’s top chemical engineering
students from 80 schools have worked in our laboratories since 1998, the
beginning of the grant. In addition, the Department of Chemical
Engineering is the pilot site for the NSF REU Japan program. In its third
year, 25 students from USC and other universities have traveled to Sophia
University in Tokyo and Osaka University in Osaka, Japan for a semester of
research under the direction of the host Japanese university research
professors.
THE NSF I/UCRC
PROGRAM
The program began in earnest in 1980. At end of FY 1996, there were 55 I/UCRCs
in operation. Of the I/UCRCs initially funded over the last 17 years, 75%
are still in operation. There are over 80 universities, over 800 faculty,
over 800 graduate students, and over 250 undergraduate students involved
in these Centers. These Centers also represent over 700 industrial
memberships. Additional information can be found at:
www.eng.nsf.gov/iucrc and in
Managing the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center by D.O.
Gray and S.G. Walters (Battelle Press, 1998).
The scientific benefits of the I/UCRC programs include an average of 5
papers or articles per faculty member published per year. Students rate
the educational experience as being higher with the I/UCRC and because
they participate they indicate that they have more job offers than their
peers. An average Center produces at least one disclosure and patent per
year. Ultimately, the University benefits from these Centers because
annual follow-on research averages $170,000 per firm, $2 million per
center and $100 million for the program at NSF. In addition, over 70% of
the industrial members report knowledge or technology transfer success.
The NSF has selected the University of South Carolina’s College of
Engineering and Information Technology to help lead the nation’s fuel cell
initiatives by performing research with industry aimed at developing and
commercializing the use of fuel cells. USC President Andrew Sorensen said
the NSF’s confidence in the ability of USC researchers to lead the
nation’s fuel cell initiative underscores the quality of research underway
at the University. Alex Schwarzkopf, NSF I/UCRC Program Manager, said USC
has an outstanding reputation for the quality of its fuel cell research.
“USC is known for its modeling capability of fuel cells and for great
research in this field. The NSF considers this to be an important center
because it addresses a need that has been identified by the White House as
important to our nation.”
The benefits to members
include access to Professors and Ph.D. and BS students specializing in
fuel cells, access to low cost basic, pre-competitive research,
opportunities to leverage research and risk, access to pre-published data
and design reports, royalty-free access to intellectual property
(non-exclusive) and opportunities for industry to drive the research
agenda. The members’ use of the intellectual property royalty free is
described in the sample agreement included in the Appendix of this
2007 PROSPECTUS. The benefits to
USC include the ownership of the intellectual property and patents, the
opportunity to increase the research funding outside of the Center, and
recognition as a leader in Fuel Cell research. The benefits to the State
of South Carolina include exposure to national and international
companies, the opportunity for a corporate research park, and the
opportunity to leverage USC for economic growth. The benefits to the
region include the possibility that Columbia is better equipped to compete
with Atlanta and the Research Triangle, that investment capital may be
used in South Carolina for start-up and relocation of businesses that Army
and Navy (DOD) design and training centers may focus on expansions in
South Carolina and that component suppliers may migrate south.
STRUCTURE of the I/UCRC for FUEL CELLS
The NSF requires a
minimum of six industrial members and $300,000 in annual dues for
certification as an I/UCRC. At USC, we set the dues at $ 35,000 and thus
we need a minimum of nine members. The dues will be supplemented by USC
so that each $35,000 contribution will support one graduate student
(usually a Ph.D.), part of a faculty member’s time, and supplies. This
student will work on the project selected by the companies and provide
research findings to be shared with all members of the Center. If more
than one member wishes to support a project, additional students will be
added to the project and the milestones of the project will be expanded or
accelerated. The Director anticipates that the companies and the faculty
member(s) will develop milestones jointly. Membership allows access to
the semi-annual reports of all projects in the Center. The members of the
Center will meet twice per year. USC reserves the right to publish papers
on the results of the research, subject to review by sponsors for
proprietary reasons. All patents derived from inventions made during
course of research at the center shall belong to USC but sponsors are
entitled to a nonexclusive royalty-free license with right to sublicense
its subsidiaries and affiliates. A sample agreement is included in the
Appendix.
The Director of the
Center is Dr. John W. Van Zee, a professor in the Department of Chemical
Engineering. The present structure at USC has the Director reporting to
the Dean of the CEC. The Director employs a Deputy Director, Dr. Manuel
(Mike) Esayian, and an Administrative Assistant, Chuck Scaglione, because
he maintains his existing research program and continues with his teaching
and service responsibilities. The members constitute the Industrial Board
and they may assign representatives that monitor and work with the
professors and graduate students. An academic advisory board will be
formed to help the Director. The NSF Program requires independent
evaluators. The evaluator for the Center is Mr. Joel Stevenson, Director
of the Incubator Center for the South Carolina Research Foundation. Mr.
Stevenson has extensive business experience and he has started and sold
three companies.
The Center will use
existing laboratories of the faculty participating in the projects. Most
of these laboratories are located in the Swearingen Engineering Center in
the College of Engineering and Information Technology.