Leonard Bonville
Fuel Cell Researcher
Hydrogen

Phone:	(321) 638-1252
Fax:	(321) 638-1010
Email:	Click here to contact

Education:

B.S. Physics
Iona College, 1964

Research Focus:

Mr. Bonville is currently a Research Specialist for the Center for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE) at the University of Connecticut, where he is the Director of the Fuel Cell Scale up laboratory.  He is also an employee as a Fuel Cell Research Specialist by the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida (FSEC/UCF) with a focus on fabrication, performance and endurance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.   The laboratory at FSEC is focused on improving the fundamental properties of the membranes and the gas diffusion layers to meet commercial requirements and on building the application engineering base, needed to move the University's PEM Fuel Cell Technology from the research lab level of elemental cells to the commercially feasible level of full size cells.  Research and development conducted in that lab will provide the database for commercial fuel cell trade studies.  In accomplishing these tasks, Len is training FSEC scientists on engineering and manufacturing skills associated with manufacturing PEM fuel cell components for batch processes.

Prior to joining the University of Connecticut, Mr. Bonville worked at the International Fuel Cell Division of United Technologies, where he held a series of positions of increasing responsibilities from Development Engineer to Vice President of Engineering. During his thirty-five year career, Len conducted Power Section development on acid, base, stacks and PEM cells for ten years. He was manager of reformer development for more than 6 years, led a manufacturing team, which worked for 2 years on the production floor at Harrison Radiation Division of GM, and was project manager for IFC - PC25 cell manufacturing lines.  In addition, he was project manager working in Japan at Toshiba for two years. As Vice President of Engineering, he managed more than 120 engineers and scientists in the development and application of the IFC fuel cell data base for the manufacture and improvement of IFC fuel cell products.

Throughout his career Mr. Bonville understood and promoted the value of data and analysis as the bases for valid engineering and management decisions. He has 14 patents relating to Fuel Cells and has coauthored publications in both the industrial and the academic environments.