Washington State's Governor Inslee has appointed the Institute for Integrated Energy Studies Director Dr. Elvin Delgado to serve as one of ten voting members of the Earth-Abundant Materials Board.
The Joint Center for Deployment and Research in Earth-Abundant Materials works with the clean technology and transportation industry associations and firms of all sizes to identify the research areas that will benefit the intermediate and long-term economic vitality of Washington's clean technology and transportation industries; Identifies entrepreneurial researchers to join or lead research teams in the specified research areas and the steps the University of Washington and Washington State University will take to recruit and retain such researchers; Assists firms to integrate existing technologies into their operations and aligns the activities of the joint center for deployment and research in earth-abundant materials with those of impact Washington to enhance services available to clean technology and transportation firms; Develops internships, on-the-job training, research, and other opportunities and ensure that all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in programs for clean technology and earth-abundant research and deployment-related curriculum have direct experience with the industry; Assists researchers and firms in safeguarding intellectual property while advancing industry innovation; Develops and strengthens university-industry relationships through promotion of faculty collaboration with industry and sponsor at least one annual symposium focusing on clean energy earth-abundant research and deployment in the state of Washington; Encourages a full range of projects from small research projects that meet the specific needs of a smaller company to large scale, multipartner projects; Develops nonstate support of the center's research activities through leveraging dollars from federal and private for-profit and nonprofit sources; Leverages its financial impact through joint support arrangements on a project-by-project basis as appropriate; Establishes mechanisms for soliciting and evaluating proposals and for making awards and reporting on technological progress, financial leverage, and other measures of impact; Allocates appropriated seed funds for at least one of the following purposes:
(i) Collaboration on research and product development that would further the commercialization of renewable energy and battery storage technologies that use earth-abundant materials in place of critical materials or rare earth elements;
(ii) Collaboration on research for joining dissimilar materials in a way that minimizes titanium content by employing earth-abundant materials for advanced manufacturing commercialization;
(iii) Collaboration on research and deployment of technologies and processes that facilitate reclamation and recycling of rare-earth elements from existing products; and
(iv) Providing assistance to community colleges and trade schools in program development and equipment for training the skilled workforce necessary for the successful commercialization and integration of earth-abundant technologies, as the workforce training needs are defined by forthcoming deployment opportunities;
The Board reports biennially to the legislature and the governor about the impact of the center's work on the state's economy and the development of next generation clean energy and transportation technologies in Washington using earth-abundant materials, including performance metrics results, projections of future impact, indicators of its current impact, and ideas for enhancing benefits to the state.