McCurdy honored at White House

Ross McCurdy, a science teacher at Ponaganset High School in Scituate, was recognized at the White House as a merit winner of the Richard C. Bartlett Award and the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education. McCurdy’s hands-on education has taken his students across the country in a biodiesel-fueled hot rod, as well as through the nationally touring hydrogen fuel-cell band, Protium (named after the most common isotope of Hydrogen). McCurdy continues to invent creative projects for his students, including developing an electric bicycle, upgrading the Fuel Cell Model T and flying a biofueled Cessna airplane from Rhode Island to California.

How does your curriculum inspire students to pursue STEM-related degrees and careers?

A big goal of alternative-energy classes is to combine academic and hands-on learning to actually get some interesting things done. While it is important for students to learn about big challenges like climate change, it’s even more important for them to learn what they can do about it. The students are interested in technology and really want to help create a better future.

What types of alternative energy do you think we should be focusing on as a nation?

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On individual homes, solar hot water and photovoltaic solar panels are great ways to save money and help the environment with clean power from the sun. Electric cars, biodiesel and other biofuels are great ways to power transportation. Large-scale wind turbines and solar facilities can produce huge amounts of power at the national level.

Could you tell me more about the rock band Protium?

We started using little fuel cells in the classroom and then purchased some bigger ones through grants. With a $5,000 grant, we bought a Ballard 1000-watt hydrogen fuel cell that was about the size of an old-school television and it had two AC outlets to plug things in. Student Brett Robinson had a 6-foot-tall Eddie Van Halen guitar amp and we plugged it in. It completely rocked and sounded as loud as a jet! We had 900 watts of power left over so we plugged in an entire band and promoted it as “The World’s First Fuel Cell Powered Band.” •

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