Helping Teachers Introduce Hydrogen Education into Their Classroom

In 1999, Kathleen Quinn Larson, along with her now deceased husband, Douglas Larson, founded Fuelcellstore.com which was the first independent marketplace for the public to purchase hydrogen fuel cells. She is the Founder and Director of the International Youth Fuel Cell Competition (IYFCC) which is held in conjunction with the Fuel Cell Seminar each year and brings students and coaches from around the world to present fuel cell projects.

For the past four years, Larson has developed and provided the fuel cell kits for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Science Bowl® Hydrogen Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge and currently provides the teacher training nationwide for that high profile event which involved over 5000 students in 2008.

General Motors is one of the main sponsors of the competition and according to GM vice president Elizabeth A. Lowery, “Today’s students are the future engineers and scientists that will be part of the continuing transformation of automotive propulsion technology, so at GM we believe it is important to encourage and support education in science, technology, engineering and math.”

In this video, we discuss fuel cells with Kathleen Larson, an advocate for hydrogen education, at the NHA conference.

NHA conference in Sacramento, California - 2008
Video Courtesy of General Motors Corporation

The National Hydrogen Association (NHA) Conference and Hydrogen Expo got underway in Sacramento March 30, 2008. The theme of the 2008 conference was ‘ramping up commercialization’. The hydrogen and fuel cell industry have talked about this for a while now, but it is finally happening – as evidenced by the products on display at the Hydrogen Expo, some of the deals made at the event and the projects described in the conference sessions. Most importantly, fuel cell products on display often now have prices on them and there is a move away from the bespoke units of the past towards limited (and even mass) manufacturing. There was a real buzz amongst the attendees at this year’s NHA that commercialization has begun, due in no small part to the hard work of NHA Members and staff.

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