For release: April 19 , 2007

Contacts: 
Steve Karsjen, Public Affairs, 515-294-5643

AMES LABORATORY HOSTING VEISHEA DISPLAY

Also participating in alternative fuels exhibit with ISU Solar Car Club

AMES, Iowa – Ames Laboratory, along with the Institute for Physical Research and Technology will host a display on central campus between noon and 4:45 on Saturday, April 21. The booth will feature banners that show highlights of the past 60 years of the Lab and 20 years of IPRT. There will be a short quiz for visitors interested in winning a prize. The display will be set up in tent #92, just to the east of Beardshear and north of the sidewalk connecting Beardshear and Curtiss. Here's a map: http://www.iastate.edu/~isu150/img/map.pdf

Ames Laboratory will also be teaming up with Iowa State University’s Team PrISUm to demonstrate hydrogen fuel-cell cars at VEISHEA 2007. Members of Team PrISUm, ISU’s solar car club, will race model cars powered by a hydrogen fuel cell at the team’s display in their garage in the Sweeney building on the ISU campus from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 21.

“We wanted a hands-on activity that was both fun and educational to show how alternative fuels can be used in cars and other transportation,” said Sarah Kelly, a program director with Team PrISUm and a senior in mechanical engineering at ISU. “We’ve helped build and race model fuel-cell cars for the Ames Lab Middle School Science Bowl, so we know kids will have a blast with them.”

The interactive event will allow students of all ages to see how the cars work and to be involved in races between two cars. The cars use a reversible fuel cell to both generate hydrogen from water and power an electric motor on the cars. The simple models give students a clear understanding of how fuel cells work and how hydrogen might one day power the nation’s automobiles and trucks. Similar model fuel-cell cars are part of the Ames Laboratory/Iowa State University Regional Middle School Science Bowl, which was held April 13-14 on the ISU campus. Teams of students from 16 Iowa middle schools compete in building and racing a hydrogen fuel-cell car. The teams then face off in a quiz-bowl style competition on science and mathematics.

Team PrISUm will also be demonstrating its latest solar-powered car at the event. The club is a multidisciplinary student organization that designs, builds, and races solar powered electric vehicles. More information can be found on the Web at www.prisum.iastate.edu.

Ames Laboratory, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007, is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

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