Energy Center

Energy Center Director's Message

In the context of global imperatives for energy supply and security, there is a critical need for energy sciences to deliver game-changing discoveries and technologies rather than incremental progress. By 2030, the global demand for energy will have increased by 50% based on the predicted human population increase, and ignoring compounding factors of climate change, urbanization and increasing prosperity. A secure energy future, both in the United States and abroad, needs solutions that diversify an energy portfolio from dependence on diminishing fossil fuel reserves.

We have an exceptional community of energy researchers at Purdue. Fundamental scientific discoveries of the nature of matter and energy are translated to real-world engineering solutions. We are training our best and brightest undergraduate and graduate students in trans-disciplinary research to think beyond the current paradigms and be a creative and impactful national and international resource. While we work to build a new knowledge base in energy sciences, we know that our ability to realize the vision of a sustainable and secure energy future can only be achieved through partnerships that create deep interactions between academia, industry and government.

The mission of the Purdue Energy Center is three-fold: to strengthen interactions among the energy sciences research community on campus; to increase the collaborative research enterprise between academia, government laboratories and industry; and to welcome future collaborators to our community. Whether you are already part of the Purdue family or you are half a world away, please join us in using our human energy to make tomorrow bright.

Energy Center History

The Energy Center (EC) was officially launched in August of 2005 with $2.5 million in start-up funds made available from the January 2005 Lilly Endowment grant for expanding Discovery Park. EC and three other centers won a campus wide competition conducted by Discovery Park administration following receipt of the Lilly Endowment grant. EC faculty had been meeting and developing energy related activities for approximately 18 months as is evidenced by the immediate high level of activity generated in the Center.

The EC launched with nine major research initiatives and an Executive Board of 21 faculty members, each assigned to a particular area of responsibility for advancing the EC agenda. Seventy-five (75) faculty members signed the original EC proposal. Currently approximately 185 faculty and staff members representing nine colleges, Purdue and Discovery Park administration as well as Purdue Physical Facilities are actively engaged in Energy Center activities. Forty-five (45) research projects with a total value of $12 million are currently active in the EC. The EC currently supports 13 major initiative areas: Advanced Vehicle Ground Power, Batteries and Advanced Electrochemical Systems, Bioenergy, Clean Coal Technologies, Global Partnerships, Green Buildings, Hydrogen Systems, Materials Under Extreme Environments, Nuclear Energy, Social, Economic, and Political Aspects of Energy Use (SEPAE), Solar, Wind and Water.