Jordan Weaver, a junior mechanical engineering major, has been awarded a prestigious and highly competitive Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Weaver will be working on hydrogen technology at the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory/NIST Center for Neutron Research in Gaithersburg, Md.  The fellowship runs from May 26 through Aug. 6.

A native of Lititz, Pa. and 2006 graduate of Warwick High School, Weaver sees the summer fellowship as a stepping stone to a career in the alternative energy field.

“I hope to be part of a big change in the way the United States manages energy resources,” he said.  “Alternative and renewable energy technologies are expanding right now, especially with the use of hydrogen fuel cells.”

Weaver has been working in the College of Engineering’s bioengineering and biomaterials center under the direction of Mechanical Engineering Professor George Baran and Post-Doctoral Fellow Quan Wan.

“They’re working with dental and medical materials there and I do a few small experiments,” he said.  “I am seeing what the atmosphere is like in a research lab, how to take good notes on my experiments and learning how to document my work.”

He believes his experience in the bioengineering and biomaterials center has been good preparation for what he’ll experience at NIST this summer.

“They have all the newest equipment and I’m going to be exposed to the latest technologies at NIST,” Weaver said.  “I will also get to experience more of what it’s like to be involved in research.”

Weaver hopes to utilize his summer experience at NIST next fall when he begins his senior design project. Under the direction of Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Parsaoran Hutapea, Weaver and three classmates will be working on improving the efficiency of a car while integrating the latest fuel saving technologies in a way that can be available to all people.

Weaver’s interest in the field of engineering began in high school.

“I always enjoyed math and science in high school,” he said.  “The few electives I took there were engineering-type courses and the projects involved in them were a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed trying to solve the problems we encountered and trying to come up with creative solutions.”