With rising concerns about gas prices and air quality, alternative fuels and engine emissions are hot research areas, and the West Virginia University Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is helping to lead the way.

The department performed a record $9 million in research last year. The Center for Alternative Fuels and Engine Emissions, which conducts research aimed at reducing vehicle exhaust emissions, accounted for nearly $6 million of the departments total research dollars.

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is making important strides and taking a leadership role in research critical to our nations energy future,said Gene Cilento, dean of WVU s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Nigel Clark is director of the center. He and a growing team of faculty members, graduate students, staff engineers and research technicians work in state-of-the art emissions measurement laboratories and use modern vehicle research equipment.

Funding from industry and the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation, among others, supports the centers work. Ongoing research projects include examining the effects of different fuels and fuel additives on emissions, measuring emissions from truck and bus fleets, and developing control systems to reduce diesel engine emissions.

One way to meet clean air goals is to make sure new vehicles meet high emissions standards and that vehicles already in use run more efficiently,Clark said.Our researchers include some of the nations top experts in measuring exhaust emissions of conventional and alternative-fuel heavy-duty vehicles.

What is unique is that we are capable of traveling throughout North America to evaluate new technologies and study the environmental impact of heavy transportation,he added.

This mobility comes from the centers two transportable vehicle emissions testing laboratories, which are regularly driven on tractor-trailers to sites across the nationincluding Washington, D.C., and Los Angelesto perform emissions testing.

One of the transportable labs was taken to Washington, D.C., this spring to measure emissions from hybrid electric and natural gas transit buses. This work was part of an international bus technology study that will allow operators to measure the efficiency and emissions benefits of new bus designs.

Center researchers have also studied emissions from ships and ferries using low-emissions technologies.

Other faculty members involved include Donald Lyons, who nurtured the center though its first 16 years; Mridul Gautam, an authority on exhaust health effects; Gregory Thompson, a fuels and emissions measurement expert; Scott Wayne, who researches locomotive emissions; Ben Shade, a researcher in engine controls; and Mohan Krishnamurthy, who is developing a program in emissions inventory.

I am very excited about the growth in our graduate and research programs in this area,said Ever Barbero, department chair.

More on the Net:www.mae.cemr.wvu.edu.