Energy Science & Technology
Principal investigators with world-class expertise in chemistry, physics and engineering—and their multidisciplinary teams—develop innovative solutions to critical energy problems.
The diverse range of research includes thermal science and technology, nanotechnology, experimental and computational fluid mechanics, intelligent control systems and nuclear thermal hydraulics, with broad application to many energy challenges.
VSTC research addresses reduced carbon dioxide emissions, greater fuel economy in vehicles, increased capacity of rechargeable batteries, improved designs for wind turbine energy and assures the safety of nuclear reactors.
News
Next Generation Refrigeration Technology: Magnetic Refrigeration with Nanoparticles
In the advancement of alternative energy sources, and the critical importance of the global warming, magnetic refrigeration is a promising energy efficient and environmentally friendly technology to replace conventional vapor-compression techniques. Our research aims to design, develop, and implement the first scalable commercially viable compressor-free magnetic refrigerator system.
Professor Hsu Awarded $1 Million Grant to Increase Fuel Economy of Vehicles
Stephen Hsu, a professor in the GW School of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is developing an innovative friction reduction technology with a recently awarded $1 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to increase the fuel economy of vehicles. His new technology will potentially save the United States 140 million barrels of oil per year and help the automobile industry meet new fuel economy regulations. Prof. Hsu is leading a project team consisting of a car manufacturer, an oil company and several additive companies.
Remembering Fukushima: Unique GW Model Improves Understanding of Nuclear Reactor Behavior during Earthquakes
GW's research team is leading the way to new discoveries about the behavior of nuclear reactor cores during earthquakes.
GW Researchers Introduce New High-Energy Rechargeable Batteries
While electric vehicles offer many advantages—including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the country’s dependence on imported petroleum—at least one barrier stands in the way of their large-scale adoption: “range anxiety.”
GW Professor Appointed to Commonwealth's Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority
Governor McAuliffe announced the appointment of Dr. William Briscoe to serve on the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority. Dr. Briscoe became the first GW faculty member to serve on one of the Governor's commissions.
Solving the Proton Radius Puzzle
Three of GW’s physics faculty, Evie Downie, William Briscoe and Andrei Afanasev, are leading the way in solving the “Proton Radius Puzzle,” along with more than 45 researchers from around the globe participating in the MUon proton Scattering Experiment (MUSE) Collaboration. GW was awarded a $277,000, 18-month grant in July 2014 from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
GW Hosts International Physics Conference at Virginia Campus
GW professors Edward Teller and George Gamow, pioneers in nuclear physics, began a long and distinguished history for GW’s Department of Physics. Current faculty members continue in their footsteps with cutting-edge research and recent leadership in organizing the International Workshop on Partial Wave Analysis for Hadron Spectroscopy.
GW Professors Receive Renewable Energy R&D Grant from Dominion Virginia Power
Professor Andrei Afanasev, GW Department of Physics and Professor Mona Zaghloul, chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have received a $150,000 grant over two years from Dominion Virginia Power. Their project seeks to engineer solar cells that use the unique properties of quantum dots to raise conversion efficiency of solar light into