UWF chemistry professor awarded grants to advance energy storage research and workforce training

The University of West Florida has been awarded two grants totaling nearly $90,000 to advance energy storage research and strengthen workforce development in Northwest Florida. Dr. Jacob Tracy, assistant professor in the UWF Department of Chemistry, received a $69,600 grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry and a $20,000 grant from the NextEra Energy Foundation, the charitable foundation for NextEra Energy Inc. and Florida Power & Light Company. Together, these awards will expand research capacity, create hands-on training opportunities for undergraduate students and high school teachers, and prepare a local workforce of highly trained energy storage chemists and engineers to meet local and state energy needs.

"Dr. Tracy has built a world-class research lab in just two years at UWF," said Dr. Karen Molek, department chair and professor of chemistry at UWF. "His commitment to mentoring high school teachers alongside undergraduate research students highlights the power of a collaborative educational ecosystem. Dr. Tracy's success exemplifies the impact of an innovative and forward-thinking research environment by solving real-world problems while preparing the next generation of our local and state workforce. We appreciate the NSF and NextEra Energy Foundation's critical support as the Department of Chemistry establishes this new area of research and outreach at UWF."

The NSF grant supports research in Tracy's laboratory creating, understanding and optimizing new classes of redox-active organic molecules for next-generation redox-flow battery storage. The work is part of a larger $679,600 collaboration led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

The NSF award also provides dedicated funding to train veteran undergraduate students in Tracy's lab, supporting NSF's mission to engage this underutilized workforce for U.S. STEM communities. This grant will also enable the veteran student to apply for additional funding through the NSF's Veterans Research Supplement Program to spend a summer working directly with our collaborators in a UC Berkeley lab.

In addition, beginning in 2027, the grant will enable a partnership with Escambia County Public Schools to host a local chemistry teacher each summer for an eight-week paid program focused on energy storage. Teachers will conduct research in Tracy's lab and integrate the experience into their classrooms, extending the impact to K-12 students.

"The NSF grant will be truly transformational, not just by bolstering our ability to tackle fundamental research questions of importance to the energy security of Northwest Florida, but also by directly involving the local community in this work through the participation of local educators," Tracy said.

The NextEra Energy Foundation grant provides $20,000 toward the purchase of an inert atmosphere glovebox, an essential piece of equipment that allows researchers to safely handle air- and water-sensitive materials required for advanced battery research. The glovebox will be incorporated into undergraduate teaching and research laboratories in the UWF Chemistry Department for battery testing and fabrication. It will also support the development of a new advanced undergraduate special topics course in electrochemistry and energy storage technology, providing students in chemistry and mechanical engineering with practical experience in battery testing and fabrication.

"I'm particularly excited by the commitment that FPL, through the NextEra Energy Foundation, has made to support the introduction of energy storage to the chemistry curriculum here at UWF," Tracy said. "This funding will be exceptionally impactful by enabling training opportunities to a broad range of our undergraduate students across both research and classroom settings."

By expanding research capacity and workforce training, the two grants will position UWF as a key contributor to energy innovation while preparing local students to meet the region's and state's energy needs.

For more information about the UWF Department of Chemistry, visit uwf.edu/chemistry.