Lebeau receives grant to find clean energy source
Estelle Lebeau’s quest to find a clean energy source came one step closer to reality when she received a $126,000 grant from the National Institute of Health.
“It is a very exciting opportunity,” said Lebeau, chemistry assistant professor. “CMU has usually not been able to attract grants like this.”
She said she had to compete with big universities like Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to get the money.
She plans to use the grant to gain a better understanding about the role of copper and iron in biological systems. A main focus of the study is to determine the different ways that oxygen is converted to water in the respiratory process. Lebeau said she wants find a way to contain the energy that is released through that process.
“We are trying to use nature as a model and mimic what nature does,” she said. “If we can capture the energy, we can use that as a fuel source.”
Vice Provost of Research and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies James Hageman said there is a need for more efficient energy sources like hydrogen. However, he said, current hydrogen fuel is basically backfiring.
“Most hydrogen is being made from gasoline so the side product is still carbon dioxide,” Hageman said. “You are producing more carbon dioxide in the air.”
He said the real question is whether hydrogen and oxygen can be split in an efficient way.
“Her studies, in principle, could give insight in building catalysts to split water into hydrogen and oxygen,” he said. “In other words, mimic some of the processes of photosynthesis. Water is split in photosynthesis.”
It took Lebeau more than 18 months to prepare for the study and apply for the grant. She said none of it could have happened without the support she got from the President Research Investment Fund.
“This whole project resulted from the $25,000 grant from the fund that (University) President (Michael) Rao founded,” Lebeau said.
The PRIF has funded about 46 research projects at CMU, Hageman said.
“That is really seed money for faculty to prepare grants,” said Hageman. “They can use that money any way that they want.”
Two graduate assistants and four undergraduates will work with Lebeau over the course of the two-year study. This should only complement the students’ class work, Hageman said.
“Anytime faculty get these type of grants it is a significant amount of money for us and we will be able to hire students to work on these projects,” Hageman said. “It gives students a different experience than just going to class.”
Hageman said he hopes Lebeau will continue to build on this study in the future.
“(The grant is) one of the bigger ones for an individual faculty member,” Hageman said. “If it is successful it will allow her to get even larger grants from it.”
The overall effect of the grant should strengthen the reputation and credibility of CMU research.
“It got CMU’s name out there,” Hageman said. “Lots of people know we can do this work.”
