CFR_overview

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.