Story by Chris Graham

SRI International is setting up shop in the Shenandoah Valley ostensibly to jumpstart a new drug-research initiative.

But drug research is just the tip of the iceberg for SRI and its work here in Virginia - as far as vice president of business development Leonard Polizzotto is concerned, anyway.

“We had lots of debate on what the initial focus area should be. We picked rapid drug development because of the need for that,” Polizzotto says.

“You always want to focus on one thing to get started - because you don’t want to promise too much and then not deliver. So we’re absolutely committed and determined to make sure that we meet our goals and deliver our promises,” Polizzotto says.

Not one to let dust settle anywhere in the vicinity, SRI has already undertaken another collaborative effort with its new partners at James Madison University on a joint initiative looking into the root causes underlying the disturbing phenomenon of the declining numbers of males seeking higher education.

“We’ve been looking at research on workforce development throughout the entire region here - and what we can do collectively to enhance the workforce. Part of that is the issue with males and the fact that males are dropping out of the educational system in a disproportionate number,” says Doug Brown, the provost and vice president for academic affairs at JMU.

“Most of the universities in this country right now are 60 percent female and 40 percent male - and that’s because the males are dropping out either after they enter college or even before they get here. And they of course reappear in the job market - and suddenly want additional education when they’re 25, 26, 27 and older. We’re going to engage in research to try to tackle that issue,” Brown says.

“This is a real problem today - and even the numbers of college applications received are so weighted now toward women, because the young men just are not applying,” Polizzotto says. “What happens is somewhere along the system between high school and going to college or in the middle of college, they for some reason drop out, and they have a hard time getting back into the system.

“We’re doing a major study on that - a joint collaboration between JMU and SRI’s education folks - to see how can we change the infrastructure, what needs to be improved and modified to defend these kids from falling out. And if they do fall out, how we can get them back in,” Polizzotto says.

A third study effort is also under way - in the area of energy research.

“We’re talking to a number of folks - from a meeting with Mike Quillen, the CEO of Alpha Coal, and with some of the universities, both James Madison and UVa., and we’re going to bring in Virginia Tech, and we’re also trying to get in touch with some of the power companies,” Polizzotto says.

“So now you have somebody who makes coal, somebody who uses coal, and us, the researchers, all looking at, How can you use coal cleanly? We’ve actually talked to some of the state folks - and they’re very interested in something that we can do here,” Polizzotto says.
“We’re looking at, Can we develop a consortium to develop new technologies to use coal cleanly?” Polizzotto says.

The group has developed a working direct-carbon fuel cell - “which we think could be world-changing, if we’re able to scale it up,” Polizzotto says.

“Essentially, what it is is that you put in carbon - any carbon-based material - and out comes electricity, about 70 percent efficient, or double the efficiency of burning,” Polizzotto says. “We have a working model - and we’re generating 10 watts of power, it’s been going for over 1,000 hours, so this is for real.”
Keeping in mind that Polizzotto says that “any carbon-based material” can be used to produce electricity using this fuel cell, it shouldn’t be all that surprising to hear that experiments are ongoing involving the local poultry industry.

“Talking to the folks in the Shenandoah Valley, somebody asked me if you could use chicken waste. And I said, Sure - not knowing if it would work or not,” Polizzotto says.

“So I get this package at work one day - and it was a five-pound bag of, well, chicken poop. And we put it just as it was in the direct-carbon fuel cell - and out came electricity. Which is absolutely amazing,” Polizzotto says.

“If you think about this, the waste from the chickens is a real problem. It’s running off into streams, so environmentally it’s a problem. It’s a huge problem there. So if this direct-carbon fuel cell worked, it would be a way to eliminate some of this waste and create energy that could be used to heat the chicken coops. So you could have a nice little closed cycle,” Polizzotto says.

And from there, well, the possibilities are as endless as a starry Shenandoah Valley night.

“I have a meeting with the president of Virginia Tech coming up in a few weeks. SRI already has some collaborations going with Virginia Tech - so here’s a way to increase that. Our intention is to up our collaborations with them,” Polizzotto says.

“I’ve already met with Dr. Ariel Gomez, a vice president at UVa., and we’re scheduling a time for our researchers to go there - we’re actually going to do an exchange, but we’ll go there, and they’ll come over to our place, and show each other what we’re doing, and we have some preliminary thoughts on projects that we want to do.
“We’ll also talk to folks from Old Dominion and George Mason - we love to collaborate,” Polizzotto says.

“Nobody can do anything alone. Partnering is a wonderful thing,” Polizzotto says.

Filed under: 7-April 2007 Issue