After completing his first semester and first final exams of college, Andover High School graduate Bruce Hilman is not taking full advantage of his vacation to catch up on sleep.

Instead, he's been busy charting a future for alternative fuel sources.

A freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, Hilman, 18, is a key player in a network of college students who plan to embark on a record-breaking voyage. Dubbing their endeavor The Hydrogen Expedition, Hilman and teammates are gearing up to circumnavigate the globe in a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered boat.

Sound impossible?

Hilman says, "Bring it on."

"Hydrogen is a better and more efficient way to transport energy," says the Andover native. "We're shooting for a year-long expedition, beginning in the summer of 2006, that will raise awareness about hydrogen as an alternative fuel source."

As chief technology and engineering officer, Hilman oversees communications between the students and several companies that could potentially help support the team's efforts.

The engineering major is also responsible for design development.

Hilman says the team plans to harness hydrogen power in a truly unique fashion. Their vessel will be smaller than 24 feet, which would make it the smallest powerboat to complete an around-the-world voyage.

Hilman says he has spent many hours conducting research for the undertaking, including studying another person's attempts at testing a new fuel.

In July 1992, Bryan Peterson piloted a circumnavigation from San Francisco that took him two years to complete. His boat, Sunrider, was powered by a fuel based on processed soybean oil known as Biodiesel.

"The Sunrider's fuel storage was limited," says Hilman, who plans to meet with Peterson later this month to further his research. "Another boat had to travel with Peterson's to carry more fuel. Our team wants to go a bit further so people know hydrogen is a viable alternative."

"Bruce's contributions are invaluable to our team," says 18-year-old Joseph Sahid, who pioneered the expedition. "He bears an enormous amount of responsibility for design and construction, and all of the major technological elements."

While the world's supply of fossil fuels will run out some day, Sahid believes hydrogen provides a renewable and environmentally-friendly solution.

"Emissions from hydrogen-fuel cells are water and heat only, preventing greenhouse gas emissions," says Sahid, adding that his research show experts surmising the world's oil supplies will peak around 2013.

"The debate between hydrogen versus fossil fuels is entrenched in special interests," Sahid says. "The US's own supply peaked a long time ago. We currently import 54 percent of our oil from overseas. In two decades, 90 percent of our oil supply will be reliant on the Middle East."

As the team leader, Sahid will most likely set sail on the small boat alone, but Hilman and an "advanced team" of college students will be ready to greet him and promote their tour in an estimated 30 cities and towns around the world.

Hilman says that by the summer of 2006, the team should have rallied enough financial and technical support, and have some project wrinkles ironed out, such as how they plan to store the hydrogen supply.

John B. Heywood, director of the Sloan Automotive Lab at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, has been researching hydrogen-fuel cells for the past 10 years. The professor says that while projects like the Hydrogen Expedition can prove useful for gaining the public's attention, he approaches the issue with both skepticism and optimism.

"We've got a lot of problems to sort out before hydrogen-fuel cells are anywhere near practical," Heywood says. "There is a desperate need to get the public more concerned about alternative energy sources, and to change our ways. For hydrogen to happen, we would have to start downsizing our vehicles. In fact, we should start downsizing tomorrow."

According to Heywood, it will be at least another 15 years before researchers know if fuel cells will even have a market appeal, then probably another 20 years before large-scale production is even possible.

"Hydrogen is not, at best, going to have an impact until the middle of this century," says Heywood. "And having an impact means noticing a difference."

But Hilman and the Hydrogen Expedition team feel the shift in fuel dependency can occur sooner than Heywood predicts with enough public excitement and investors on board.

In fact, Hilman believes a transition is possible within the next 10 years.

"If we can take a boat around the world on hydrogen-fuel cells, we can prove people can power their cars on them too," says Hilman. "By promoting research and political debate for hydrogen-fuel cells, we can encourage companies and the government to start doing things for real. It is possible."

For more information on The Hydrogen Expedition, visit www.thehydrogenexpedition.com, or e-mail Bruce Hilman at bhilman@seas.upenn.edu.