Junior Earns First Place in National Science Foundation Competition

– Jennifer Patterson, a Florida Institute of Technology junior majoring in chemical
engineering, earned first place in the NSF-REU Summer 2005 Research Symposium (National Science Foundation-Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
Chemical Engineering competition. She was among 24 competing participants in her division at a summer-long internship held at the University of South
Carolina in Columbia.

Patterson, who built a fuel cell test station, titled her award-winning research, “Characterization of a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell.” She will present her
work again at the National American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE) meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of October

Patterson is a resident of Bradenton, Fla. and a graduate of Broad Run High School in Ash Run, Va.

Florida Tech recently established the National Center for Hydrogen Research, with primary funding from NASA. The center focuses on cost efficient
production and cost effective utilization of hydrogen.