[Alabama] With the escalating worldwide demand for new sources of energy, Auburn University is launching a new research center to bolster research already under way or planned for the near future in several schools and colleges. Interim President Ed Richardson said that the university will provide a one-year grant to launch the new Auburn Alternative Fuels Initiative at the start of the 2006-07 fiscal year on Oct. 1. Continued operation of the initiative or center will depend on its ability to secure external funding, but Richardson and organizers said they are optimistic that the center will be able to secure funding for continued research and development of alternatives to petroleum-based fuels. Ralph Zee of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and Graeme Lockaby of the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences are co-chairs of a nine-member campuswide committee that is developing plans for the center. The co-chairs said the center will focus on developing technologies that can help Alabama use its renewable natural resources to augment the nation ‘ s energy supplies.

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