The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy has supported the development and application of solid oxide fuel cells for nearly two decades.  The first half of this presentation briefly traces the history of fuel cells, discusses some of the technical aspects of solid oxide fuel cells, and describes their advantages and disadvantages.  The second half describes the solid oxide fuel cell program as implemented by the Office of Fossil Energy which includes a brief description of some of the projects supported by the Department and some insights on the routes that exist for interested investigators to become involved in this research.