Tech is one of 23 U.S. universities that will serve as lead researchers in 17 states. Industry, laboratories and other universities are set to collaborate on many of these projects.

The research is broken down into four categories. Georgia Tech will receive funding of $1,046,277 in the area of "Generation IV Reactor Research and Development." The goal: to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors that produce more energy with less waste.

Prof. Farzad Rahnema, associate chair of the Woodruff School and chair of the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering/Medical Physics program, will spearhead the project.

This grant is in addition to a $1 million award Tech received from the Department of Energy last month for membrane research and carbon capture, one of 37 projects selected to help develop clean energy potential in the U.S. Georgia Tech will also partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory on a second approved project – budgeted at $987,547 – involving membranes and carbon capture. Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars David Sholl and Bill Koros, both from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will be taking the lead on these research projects.