June 2009

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After 41 years of working with aerospace propellants at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), including 25 years of managing large-scale liquid hydrogen production for the Shuttle and other space craft, H.T. Everett, Jr. has retired from NASA. He continues to be actively involved in hydrogen fuel technology, now as a. manager at ASRC Aerospace, a prime contractor for the university-affiliated Spaceport Technology Contract at KSC. In his new role, he provides management and technology support to NASA for consolidated aerospace fluids, including hydrogen, helium, oxygen, nitrogen, toxic propellants and other fluids for all NASA centers. He plans to work through to the Shuttle program fly-out in 2010, provide propellant and gases logistics planning for the follow-on Moon/Mars program, and continue to support both space and ground hydrogen transportation. Everett’s previous job as NASA Fluids Manager has been taken over by Eric Dirschka, who has worked with Everett for many years, including various ground vehicle demonstrations at KSC including a Ballard bus, a BMW (H&FCL Sept. 07) and Ford and Honda vehicles. Currently, Dirschka is working to get a General Motors fuel cell vehicle to KSC........Melbourne, Australia-based Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited has appointed Dr. Peter Binks to its board of directors in a non-executive function. Binks is currently CEO of NanoVentures, Australia, Ltd., and he previously worked for McKinseyfrri & Co., BHP and other companies.......Boston-based Ze-Gen, Inc., a developer of advanced gasificartion technologies for converting solid waste streams into syngas, has named Christian Holmes to its market advisory board. Most recently he was senior vice president for program development at the Global Environment and Technology Foundation, Arlington, VA and he previously worked for Tenneco Energy and for Enron........BTU International Inc., North Billerica, MA has named Jan-Paul van Maaren as its new vice president for marketing. He previously was vice president of corporate marketing at MKS Instruments, Andover, MA a supplier of semiconductor and solar manufacturing equipment. BTU International makes equipment and processes for, among other areas, fuel cell manufacturing.......Fuel cell developer Protonex Technology Corp., Southborough, MA has appointed David A. Gerardi as its new vice president of operations. He replaces Ronald Rezac. Gerardi previously held senior management positions at RSA, Telco Systems, Integral Access and Lucent Technologies........Valencia, CA-based hydrogen sensor maker H2Scan reports its chief scientist Prabhu Soundarrajan has been elected to the board of directors of the National Hydrogen Association, Washington, DC........HONORS: Time magazine has named MIT Prof. Daniel Nocera among its 100 most influential people for 2009. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy and professor of chemistry was cited by the magazine for his work “making hydrogen fuel from water, taking his cue from plants’ photosynthetic ability to split water using sunlight........”Prof. Dr. Adolf Goetzberger, founder of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany, has been named “European Inventor of the Year” as a Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Patent Office. The awards ceremony was held April 30 in Prague Castle in the Czech Republic......The University of Delaware has awarded the Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit to Hermann Scheer, member of the German parliament, president of EUROSOLAR and chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy. The prize includes a $50,000 cash award.