UF chemistry professor receives grant for solar energy research

April 4, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — David Micha, University of Florida professor emeritus of chemistry and physics and currently an adjunct professor at UF, has been named a 2008 Senior Scientist Mentor by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and has been awarded a $20,000 grant that will support his research with undergraduate students.

Micha and his students will use the grant money to study methods of improving solar energy capture and conversion.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Senior Scientist Mentor Program provides grants to emeritus faculty in the chemical sciences in support of undergraduate research to be conducted under their guidance. Awardees are selected from applications submitted by colleges and universities from throughout the United States. The award is based partly on the recipient’s distinguished research and pedagogical career accomplishments and the commitment to advising and mentoring student participants.

“This program provides for the development of a relationship between these senior scientists and the students as they engage in perhaps their first research experience to generate new knowledge,” said Mark Cardillo, executive director of the foundation. “Firsthand experience with the scientific research process is of value to all students, some of whom may be motivated to join the next generation of chemists.”

Micha was born in Argentina and earned his doctorate in Sweden. He has been a professor at UF since 1969. He served as director of UF’s Center for Chemical Physics between 1982 and 1991, and later as head of the physical chemistry division in the chemistry department.

He is one of 13 Dreyfus grant recipients this year.