SAIC's Algae-Based Jet Fuel Gets DARPA Funding

seekingalpha.com
February 05, 2009

Jet fuel and other fuels made from algae are being developed in San Diego. Some of the research is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the Department of Defense.

DARPA has provided $35 million to San Diego-based companies SAIC (SAI) and General Atomics to pursue the creation of algae-based jet fuel.

This investment has triggered more interest in San Diego as a research hub for algae-based fuels. According to a Jan. 12, 2009, article in the San Diego Business Journal, “A consortium of academic researchers is pushing to make San Diego a hub for research on algae-based fuels, a task that, if successful, could pour more jobs and funding into the area.”

The article also noted that an associate dean at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Stephen Mayfield, is leading efforts to make the San Diego region a center for fuels created from algae.

Mayfield wants to establish joint activities that include the Scripps Research Institute, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of California San Diego. ...

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