Andrew Attar, a junior chemistry major at Florida State University, wants to revolutionize the way solar energy is captured.</p>
<p>Now, he’s about to get some help with his research.</p>
<p>Attar, of Sarasota, has been awarded the university’s first Atlantic Coast Conference Fellowship for Undergraduate Research. It’s through the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors in the division of undergraduate studies.</p>
<p>The $5,000 award is funded by the ACC International Academic Collaborative with money from the ACC football championships.</p>
<p>“Andrew was selected from a large pool of candidates after a rigorous application and interview process,” Cathy Levenson, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors, said. “These students are undergraduates, but the work they are doing at FSU promises to have a national, and even international, impact.”</p>
<p>Attar’s fellowship will help pay for his ongoing research, which takes advantage of the most recent advances in nanotechnology the creation of very small, highly specialized semiconducting quantum dots that collect and redistribute light energy.</p>
<p>The creation of new, efficient and affordable energy cells is what Attar hopes for.</p>
<p>“I hope to perform research that may play some part in the world’s efforts to produce safe, affordable, efficient and renewable energy,” he said.</p>
<p>His research is conducted under the direction of Assistant Professor Kenneth Knappenberger Jr. in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.