Invited by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Professor Zheng Jinyang of Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering visited Washington D.C. as a peer evaluation expert for 2011 DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells and Vehicle Technologies Programs Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting from May 9 to 13. This is the first time Chinese experts have participated in peer evaluation of DOE hydrogen and fuel cells and vehicle technologies programs.
The U.S. government attaches great importance to the development of hydrogen and fuel cells and developed roadmaps and vision documents to provide direction for the DOE Hydrogen Program. Last year, DOE invested 170 million dollars in hydrogen and fuel cells program to support researches on hydrogen storage, implementation of technical standards, market transformation, system analysis, Recovery Act and so on.
The 2011 DOE Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting aimed at assessing the completion and execution of the DOE-funded projects. A total of more than 1500 people from U.S government, national labs, well-known enterprises, universities and peer evaluation experts attended the meeting. There were 3 stages in the meeting, joint plenary session, plenary session and hydrogen program reports. Peer evaluation experts are leading experts on related topics, mostly from the United States.
During the meeting, Professor Zheng Jinyang communicated with DOE and DOT officials and experts on bilateral cooperation, standards coordination and technical exchange. He also attended IPHE RCSWG meeting. Next month, DOE and DOT officials will visit Zhejiang University. Dr. Ye Jianjun in Professor Zheng’s team will recently go to Sandia National Laboratory to conduct research.