Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)
today announces the formation of the Wanger Institute for Sustainable
Energy Research (WISER) that will be the foundation of a campus-wide energy
sustainability effort and create important learning opportunities for
students and faculty from across academic disciplines.
By drawing on the strengths IIT has demonstrated in areas such as clean
coal technology, renewable energy, and power through IIT Armour College of
Engineering, sustainable buildings through IIT College of Architecture, and
business and entrepreneurship through the Center for Sustainable Enterprise
at IIT Stuart School of Business, WISER will serve as an interdisciplinary
research and education center incorporating contributions from all of IIT
and beyond. By incorporating architecture, the sciences, psychology, law,
business, and design into the research and education structure, WISER will
lead the way in confronting the energy challenges facing the world today
and in the future.
"Energy challenges will be a dominant problem for many decades," said
Wanger. "We must organize a transition from fossil fuels to renewable
energy sources, reduce energy use per capita, and stabilize the
environment. Hundreds of thousands of trained people will be needed for
this task, and IIT can become a leader in sustainable energy."
Through its research and education activities, and partnerships with
other universities, WISER will become an international center for
sustainable energy research and education. IIT president John Anderson
stressed the symbiotic relationship, "Research is a vehicle for education;
education furthers research," noting that WISER will not only guide
education at IIT, "but will affect how we do things at the university, as
well. The university will become a model of sustainability guided by the
cross-disciplinary work at WISER."
IIT Max McGraw Professor of Energy, Environment, and Economics, and
Armour College of Engineering dean Hamid Arastoopour added, "WISER is a
work in progress and its ideas will expand. Currently, there are three
areas of basic focus: energy production; energy conservation and
efficiency; and power and power distribution. Through the formation of
WISER, we will be able to significantly expand our research and educational
activities in the areas of energy and sustainability."
Ralph Wanger is a member of the IIT Board of Trustees and former chief
investment officer and president of Wanger Asset Management, which he
founded in 1992. He managed the Columbia Acorn Fund from 1970 till his
retirement in 2003. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology with a Masters degree from the same university. He resides in
Chicago.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than
7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design,
humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused
curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and
scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to
prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional
achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.
SOURCE Illinois Institute of Technology
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