The U.S. Department of Energy this week selected the University of South Carolina to house an alternative energy research center that's expected to receive $12.5 million in federal funding.

"The grant was included in a White House announcement that the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science will spend $777 million on 46 new multimillion-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers over the next five years," writes the Charleston Regional Business Journal's James T. Hammond. "The centers will be established at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation… the new Materials for Energy Systems research center at USC will seek to 'build a scientific basis for bridging the gap between making nano-structured materials and understanding how they function in a variety of energy applications,' according to the Department of Energy announcement."

The press release is here.

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