UD snags renowned fuel-cell researcher
UD snags renowned fuel-cell researcher
Officials hope professor boosts school — and state’s economy
By JONATHAN STARKEY
The News Journal
The University of Delaware has landed a potential star professor — one who burnishes the college’s engineering offerings and could help build the state’s economy.
Yushan Yan, a renowned fuel-cell researcher, is a new engineering professor at the school, arriving this summer with an entourage of nine early-career scientists and seven doctoral candidates.
At a cost of $1.9 million, the Delaware Technology Park has built the crew 6,500 square feet of laboratory and office space in Newark, where it will work alongside small startups and established businesses.
University and state officials hope Yan’s labs will be a source of market-ready innovation in coming years.
Yan, who has already licensed technology to a pair of commercial startups, hopes to market technology that could efficiently convert hydrogen from the sun’s rays into power for homes and cars. The technology could also lead to efficient batteries to store solar or wind power — and, importantly, new jobs.
“I really want to commercialize technology that can improve society,” Yan says.
