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Bridgestone awarded $35M USDA Climate-Smart Grant to advance guayule natural rubber production

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The US Department of Agriculture has awarded Bridgestone and several partners a $35-million grant to continue its investment in desert shrub guayule ( earlier post ) to advance a climate-smart domestic rubber industry and offer a solution for growers amid the ongoing water crisis in the Southwestern US.

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Study finds Colorado River Basin’s worst known megadrought was 1,800 years ago

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It reveals a greater range of natural hydroclimatic variability in the Colorado River than previously recognized, highlighting a need for water managers to adjust expectations and prepare for even more intense drought. —Connie Woodhouse, a professor at the University of Arizona and a study co-author. It’s quite remarkable.

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ASU and Argonne researchers report progress on artificial leaf for solar conversion of water to H2 and O2

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Researchers at Arizona State University and Argonne National Laboratory reported advances toward perfecting a functional artificial leaf in a paper in Nature Chemistry. The researchers took a closer look at how nature had overcome a related problem in the part of the photosynthetic process where water is oxidized to yield oxygen.

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NSF launches 4 new engineering research centers with $74M; large-scale solar energy, sustainable water systems, sensorimotor neural engineering and energy transmission networks

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The centers will support research and innovation in solar energy; water infrastructure; neural engineering; and wide-area energy transmission. The NSF ERC for Re-inventing America's Urban Water Infrastructure , led by Stanford University, will seek sustainable urban water systems to supply, treat, and reuse water.

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DOE awards $97M to 33 bioenergy research and development projects

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University of Alabama. University of North Dakota. North Carolina State University. Oregon State University. University of Cincinnati. University of Maryland - College Park. Princeton University. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Utah State University. Montana State University.

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DOE to award $15.8M to 30 hydrogen and fuel cell technologies projects

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Advanced Water Splitting Materials. 19 projects will leverage the HydroGEN Consortium to accelerate the development of advanced water-splitting materials for hydrogen production, with an initial focus on advanced electrolytic, photoelectrochemical, and solar thermochemical pathways. Carnegie Mellon University. DOE share (FY17).

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NSF awards $55.5M to support 3 new Engineering Research Centers; one focused on power electronics

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POETS will be led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partnership with Howard University, Stanford University and the University of Arkansas. The two other new ERCs are: Off-grid drinking water. Nature-inspired soil engineering.

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