WASHINGTON - Jan van Dokkum, president of UTC Power, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Energy's new Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC), according to an announcement by Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman. UTC Power is a business unit of United Technologies Corp.

The HTAC will advise Bodman on issues related to the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The 25 members of the committee were selected from more than 100 nominees and comprise technical expertise and stakeholder viewpoints, the Department of Energy stated.

"Research, development, and deployment of hydrogen is central to President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative," Bodman said. "Receiving candid advice from this committee is one of the many ways we are working to meet the president's goal of moving toward a hydrogen economy and reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil."