Standford University to provide seed funding to clean technology research

The Stanford University has awarded a cumulative $2.2m in faculty seed grants to nine proposals for further research into clean technology and energy efficiency.

The funding to be made available from the varsity's Precourt Institute for Energy (PIE), TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy and Precourt Energy Efficiency Center have been made available to researchers from fields that include engineering, economics and psychology.

Member of the selection committee, PIE Director and professor of energy resources engineering Lynn Orr explained that the 30 proposals received across campus were screened by a committee Stanford faculty and senior staff.

"We looked for projects where the investigators had moved into new areas of energy research for which the potential payoffs justified taking the risk associated with early-stage proposals," said Orr.

The Precourt Energy Fund, the Schmidt Family Foundation and the Stinehart/Reed Donor Advised Fund provided the support for the varsity's 2012 seed funding grants.