While all the experimental work has been done at Gaskatel, the team working on this novel configuration of hydrogen fuel cells includes several engineers, scientists and students from the DIT, The University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, Germany; and UWP. Equipment and resources have been provided to UWP by Gaskatel to start up a fuel cell station and the faculty and students will assemble their own fuel cell and test stations using funds from a 2005-06 UWP Chancellor's Opportunity Grant. Hamilton has already assembled a research team of UWP students and faculty from a variety of majors, reaching beyond the field of chemistry alone. Nader Safari-Shad, UWP professor of electrical engineering, will perform mathematical modeling for the control unit to simulate its behavior. Hamilton presented some results of the work for the team last week in Dublin at the Second International Conference of Renewable Energy (REMIC) in Maritime Climates. The REMIC Conferences occur every five years and bring together people from more than a dozen countries where leading researchers will give lectures on diverse but relevant topics ranging from wind, solar, hydro and tidal power, biomass, heating and cooling and fuel cells, to energy conscious building design and materials, economics, as well as policy and integration.

The partnership may evolve beyond this project as well. In a letter to Hamilton, the managing director of Gaskatel, Joachim Helmke, suggested that he envisions a long-term relationship with UWP. "Your assistance of our master students writing their theses convinced me that cooperation between you and our company will be interesting, fruitful and valuable. Wisconsin and Hesse (the German state where Gaskatel is based) are partner states. This is another aspect, which might be of advantage in the future. Our company has relationships with the Universities of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt and Wiesbaden and also to the University of Kassel, which might be interesting for your students," Helmke wrote. Hamilton said the project is exciting on a number of levels. "The potential benefits to our global society are astounding and continued research on longevity and electrical and chemical characterization of these new cells is necessary to eventually bring the product to the consumer. UWP will have one of the few non-federal fuel cell programs in the country with the potential to have its business neighbors and students involved in the commercialization of the product in North America," he explained. Anyone interested in learning more about this research may contact Hamilton at (608) 342-1670 or hamiltoj@uwplatt.edu