Norman Cox drives a butterscotch-colored 1977 Volkswagen Rabbit. It doesn't have power steering or power brakes. It no longer has a muffler and Cox never changes the oil. He also hasn't gassed it up in decades. That's because Cox converted the Rabbit into an electric car in the early 1980s.
LISTEN to the story here. (Click on electric car story)
Missouri S&T researchers' expertise in understanding the nation's power grid -- and their work to improve energy delivery -- will play a big part in creating an "Internet for energy" in the future. Today, the National Science Foundation announced that Missouri S&T is one of seven universities to make up a new research center to transform the nation’s century-old, centralized power grid into an alternative-energy-friendly network.
The NSF’s Energy Research Center for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems will be led by North Carolina State University and includes four other U.S. universities, as well as universities in Germany and Switzerland.
The program is supported through a five-year, $18.5 million grant from NSF. Missouri S&T's part of the research will be directed by Mariesa Crow, the Fred W. Finley Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Missouri S&T and director of the university’s Energy Research and Development Center. “Our university has a long tradition of excellence in power engineering, and our expertise in that area, combined with our emphasis on addressing the pressing energy issues of our time, allow us to make unique contributions to this research effort.”
Read more about the new center, or read about some of the work Crow and her colleagues are already doing to plug in to this new approach to electrical power.
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