This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009(Public Law 111-5). This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award supports a program at the University of California, Los Angeles on the topic of clean energy for green industry. An interdisciplinary approach to graduate education is designed to train U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers for leadership roles in the clean energy sector. The technical thrusts merge three scientific areas of energy harvesting, storage and conservation with policy and business to address complex clean energy issues and identify areas for transformational research. Through this foundational structure, this IGERT addresses the urgent societal challenge of meeting increasing energy needs without further negatively affecting the environment. The development of such solutions is only feasible through university-industry-local government partnerships with highly-skilled, broadly-educated, globally-minded leadership. Such partnerships have high potential for economic development in urban areas primed for growth in this sector, with a well-trained workforce, a supportive government and visionary industrial foundations. Close interaction with industry is fostered through industrial innovation partners, intellectual property development and rapid technology transfer for job creation. Emphasis is placed on economic expansion through clean energy research, new business, highly trained workforce development, equity and inclusion. Program strategies include cross-disciplinary, integrated research and education training, modular clean energy curriculum for both on-campus and on-line dissemination, diversity and inclusion. The overarching theme of energy harvesting, storage, conservation and policy is echoed in integrated research, education and service components. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
