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The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research (NCESR), chartered in 2006, supports innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration by funding competitive “seed grants” for energy sciences research. About Us describes the mission, goal, vision, center organization and administration, including the Director, Associate Director, Executive Council and the External Advisory Committee. Contact Us gives the office address plus contact information for the Center’s staff. Use the Whittier Research Center Map or UNL’s Campus Maps to locate the NCESR office in Suite 230 of the Whittier Research Center, 2200 Vine Street, Lincoln, Nebraska.
NCESR releases RFP for Cycle 16 preproposals
The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research is seeking innovative energy sciences research and collaboration ideas from University of Nebraska faculty. The Request for Proposals was released April 1, 2021. This is the sixteenth annual cycle in which UNL faculty can compete in this internal competition for energy research grants These grants are considered seed funding to help UNL faculty develop energy-related research capacity and improve their competitiveness for external funding. In addition, the RFP gives guidelines for a Special XPrize competition. If interested in this competition, please read the guidelines carefully as they are different than the regular Cycle funding opportunities. Funding for this opportunity is made possible through an investment in energy sciences research by the Nebraska Public Power District. Preproposals are due May 15, 2021 by 1:00 p.m. Full proposals will be by invitation. NCESR Cycle 16 RFP
Yasar Demirel authors book on Energy
Demirel, Energy: Production, Conversion, Storage, Conservation, and Coupling. 3nd Ed., Springer, London 2021 (650 pages). https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-56164-2
In line with the goals of Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research, this third edition may contribute toward research on energy sciences in energy production, conversion, storage, conservation, and coupling. It discusses energy production mainly using closed and open cycles of heat engines, energy conversion with an emphasis on the ways to improve the energy conversion efficiency. It also discusses the energy storage by various means, as well as the energy conservation and recovery. It introduces energy coupling with examples from biological systems. it focuses on sustainability and life cycle analyses in energy systems to emphasize the implications of the use of energy on the environment, society, and economy. It also discusses ‘renewable energy’ and ‘energy economics and management with the latest projections. It should be freely downloadable using UNL campus computers and the solution manual is available for the instructors.
NCESR project: engineered microbe that excels at ‘breathing rubber’

The single-celled microorganisms known as methanogens are, no surprise, known for emitting methane: in the guts of humans and other animals, in hydrothermal vents that gash the ocean floor — almost anywhere, really, that oxygen is not.
But biochemist Nicole Buan and colleagues at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln have now genetically engineered a species of methanogen that can also yield sizable amounts of isoprene, the primary chemical component of synthetic rubber. Promisingly, that isoprene production substantially outpaces the yields of other microorganisms engineered for the same purpose. Engineered microbe excels at ‘breathing rubber’
NCESR grant leads to breakthrough in fiber study
Dr. Yuris Dzenis, a faculty member in Mechanical and Materials Engineering, recently published an article in Applied Materials & Interfaces ( a journal of the American Chemical Society ) on a study that allowed him and other researchers on the project to explain the differences in fibrillation. The article also received the honor of gracing the cover of the journal. To view the article, go to Study yields breakthroughs in understanding failure of high-performance fibers.
NCESR seed grant leads to $4.5M award
In 2012, Alexander Sinitskii was awarded an Energy Center grant for his project entitled “Three-Dimensional Graphene-Based Scaffolds for Supercapacitor Applications”. This seed grant has led to the awarding of a three-year, $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research. Dr. Sinitskii, associate professor of chemistry, will lead a multi-institution research team investigating ways to incorporate DNA nanotechnology as a construction tool to assemble graphene in new ways that could make the material more useful in electronic devices and other applications. To learn more about the research, go to Alexander Sinitskii award.
Summer Intern wins 2nd place at ASME
Abdelrahman Elsayed, one of the 2019 summer interns, won 2nd place in the undergraduate research competition at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Congress International Undergraduate Research Exposition. Abdelrahman’s faculty sponsor is Professor Yuris Dzenis from the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department. To view Abdelrahman’s poster, click 2019IMECE-AElsayed_sm
Thilini Ekanayaka receives graduate student award from AVS
Thilini Ekanayaka, a graduate student working with Takashi Komesu and Andrew Yost in Physics and Astronomy, was one of three recipients selected to receive a Graduate Research Award from the American Vacuum Society. She competed against over 2000 other student applicants to become a finalist. Thilini will receive a cash award, a certificate, and reimbursement for travel support to attend an International Symposium. Thilini’s work is on an Energy Center project entitled “Doping Metal-Chalcogenide Quantum Dot Solar Cells for Enhanced Device”.
NCESR project leads to NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
As a result of NCESR funding, a microbial enrichment culture surviving on hydrogen and calcium carbonate was determined to produce acetate and methane. Nicole Fiore, a graduate student funded to examine the physiological capability of the enrichment, was intrigued not only by the implications for carbon cycling on Earth but also on other planets (or moons). She developed a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship proposal to expand upon current knowledge of microbial metabolisms under extreme conditions, specifically those that alter planetary or lunar minerals. As part of Nicole’s NSF fellowship, she will investigate microbially-catalyzed carbonate transformations under alkaline conditions, expanding on current NCESR funding. pseudocolor-carbonate This opportunity will help her develop the skills necessary for a career in astrobiology so she can continue to research questions that contribute to our overall understanding of the universe.
Nicole is working with Dr. Karrie Weber in the School of Biological Sciences. The NCESR funded project is entitled “Microbial Electrosynthetic Conversion of CO2 and Carbonates into Biogas and Bioproducts”.
NCESR project leads to DOE Graduate Student Research Award
An NCESR project on “Graphene-Based Supercapacitors for Efficient Energy Storage and Delivery” has led to the awarding of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research award. Jacob Teeter (in Dr. Alex Sinitskii’s lab, Department of Chemistry) received the award for his proposed project “Bottom-Up Engineering of Nanoribbon Properties through Systematic Structural Modification”. The work will be conducted at the DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over a 12-month period. In the framework of this project, Jacob will use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) that will be grown from molecular precursors synthesized at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. GNRs are widely regarded as promising materials for nanoelectronics, and Jacob’s studies will elucidate their structural and electronic properties.
NCESR Seed Funding Helps Obtain NRC Award
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently awarded the University of Nebraska with a three-year, $450,000 Faculty Development Grant to support the research of Bai Cui, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering. The grant will help develop materials for the next generation of nuclear power facilities. Jeff Shield, chair of mechanical and materials engineering, and Michael Nastasi, director of the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research, collaborated on the grant. NRC will help develop materials for next generation nuclear power facilities


