A UF team "playing catch" with solar energy won a $20,000 grant to help them get it right.
David Micha, an adjunct physics and chemistry professor emeritus, and his undergraduate student team won the grant for their research to improve the capturing of solar energy to translate it into better technology.
Micha received the award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, an organization trying to advance the chemical sciences by addressing related needs, according to the group's Web site.
With a better understanding of solar energy's scientific aspects, Micha said he hopes to prove that it can compete with, if not surpass, other energy sources.
But his team must first figure out better ways to gather solar energy and make it usable.
He said his research could have "big implications" for the country's energy needs and growing preference for more sustainable alternatives.
"It can make the U.S. less dependent on oil supplies coming from other places," he said.
Though it's difficult to predict breakthroughs, Micha said he expects his team's research to start impacting the economy within the next 10 years.
"We don't have a schedule for breakthroughs," Micha said. "I wish there was such a thing."
He said he's been focusing on this research with a rotating team of undergraduate students for about five years, and he plans to keep it up.
The bulk of the grant will help pay some of students' tuition and travel expenses for solar energy research conferences or competitions, he said.
For Micha, the award is a chance for him to be a mentor to his team, he said.
"It's mostly for the benefit of the students, not for me," he said.
