Trustee makes donation to start new solar energy research center at Rensselaer

Thomas R. Baruch ’60 gift to launch research on cutting-edge sources of solar energy

Troy N.Y. – Thomas R. Baruch, a member of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees and alumnus of the Class of 1960, has donated a gift that will help to establish a new center at the Institute devoted to bio-energy research. The new center — the Baruch '60 Center for Biochemical Solar Energy Research — will conduct unprecedented research on biochemical solar technology.

Researchers at the center will work to develop the next generation of solar technology by studying one of the most powerful energy converting machines in world – plants. Researchers will use sophisticated new technologies and techniques to understand the energy converting power of plants to develop new technologies that mimic this extremely efficient natural system.

"We are grateful to have a partner in Tom Baruch who fully understands the vision of The Rensselaer Plan, and the pressing need to pursue visionary and innovative efforts to develop new approaches to energy security around the world," said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. "The center will expand the energy research network that Rensselaer is actively building across the Institute, and will offer researchers around the globe fundamental scientific research on the original solar panel – plants – as well as technological solutions to create the super-efficient man-made solar technologies of the future."

"It is my hope that this center will expand on Rensselaer's very strong foundation in energy research and establish Rensselaer and its faculty and students as leaders at the forefront of solar energy research," Baruch said. "The research talent and infrastructure of Rensselaer create the perfect storm of ideas and innovations that I believe will result in the creation of solar technologies with greater efficiency of even the most sophisticated silicon solar panels available on the market today."

The center will include faculty from a variety of disciplines and research backgrounds. In the initial stages, the research will center on molecular chemistry and biochemistry to map out the step-by-step processes that nature's perfect green machines go through to convert solar rays into life-sustaining energy, according to Rensselaer Provost Robert Palazzo. "The research will begin by looking at the processes that plants use to intake and utilize the energy from the sun at such an amazing level of efficiency," he said. "This scientific knowledge could provide other Rensselaer scientists and engineers information to develop new technologies that present an entirely new means of harnessing energy from the sun."