SD EPSCoR Impacts

SD EPSCoR Impacts for the Week of October 25, 2018:

• A five-year, $725,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will help South Dakota State University researchers show how new solar cell and battery materials can work in real-world applications, according to Professor QiquanQiao. The Harold C. Hohbach Endowed Professor in Electrical Engineering is the director of the Center for Advanced Photovoltaics and Sustainable Energy and coordinator of the electrical engineering graduate program. Among other positives, the funding will help bring devices that use renewable energy technologies closer to commercialization and help fuel economic growth in South Dakota. More

• South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SD Mines) researchers have received funding to explore hydraulic fracturing to expand the utilisation of geothermal energy. The use of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking as it’s commonly called in the press) has been a topic of contention in the oil and gas industry. However, researchers believe fracking can also be used at depth in hard rocks that contain no oil or gas to improve geothermal energy production. The process could enhance the use of the earth’s own heat as a source of clean energy. Liangping Li, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at SD Mines received the two-year, $211,356 National Science Foundation award for his research entitled “Inverse Methods of Hydraulic Fracturing for Enhanced Geothermal Systems in a Deep Mine.” More