ASU is leading a new LightWorks program that will combine research from around the nation about the practical uses of light.
ASU officials announced the initiative after hiring businessman Gary Dirks to direct the new program.
Through the collaboration of ASU researchers, national labs and other universities’ research, LightWorks aims to create solutions to some of the nation’s biggest energy problems, Dirks said.
“One of the goals of LightWorks is to leverage the breadth and depth of research from ASU and go after some of the bigger issues, where a small research center or an individual might not be able to go after on their own,” he said.
Thomas Moore, director of ASU’s Center for Bio-energy and Photosynthesis said LightWorks acts as an umbrella that encompasses many different aspects of light research.
“You have people using [light energy] for medical [purposes], people using it for energy, photosynthesis, [and] others for fuel,” he said.
“So this initiative causes all those people to come together and hopefully think of new ideas.”
More than 30 different institutions contribute to LightWorks, including the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, ASU’s Center for Bio-Inspired Solar Fuel Production, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Arizona Initiative for Renewable Energy, Dirks said.
Researchers at the Center for Bio-Inspired Solar Fuel Production hope to contribute to the process of converting light into chemical energy to produce an alternative energy source, Moore said.
“By burning fossil fuels, we’re wrecking our planet. We have to find a sustainable source … we can’t go on forever burning fossil fuels,” Moore said. “It’s also a matter of national security. We shouldn’t be dependant on getting oil from countries that don’t necessarily like us.”
Larry Orr, program manager for the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, said Dirks is a perfect fit as director of LightWorks both because of his experience in the field and his history with ASU.
“ASU is going to become a major player in solar renewable energy,” he said. “We have a lot of people with talent, and Dirks is going to put it all together.”
Before returning to ASU after graduating in 1980, Dirks was the president of BP Asia-Pacific and BP China, an oil and gas company he worked with for 34 years.
Dirks received his doctorate in chemistry from ASU in 1980 and was a student of some of the professors now working in collaboration with LightWorks, including Devens Gust, a chemistry professor and director of the Center for Bio-Inspired Solar Fuel Production.
Gust said he is excited to see the progress LightWorks makes with light research.
“The University is a huge place, there’s a lot going on, and if we’re aware of what each other are doing, we can be more effective and make progress faster,” he said.
Dirks said this research is important to him personally because he believes the future of alternative resources is in the sun.
“The need is urgent for more environmentally and more secure resources and if you look at the possibilities, you realize you need to use the sun,” he said. “If you want to make a difference in the United States, the only real possibility on the horizon is the sun.”
Reach the reporter atmichelle.parks@asu.edu.
