IPB at UConn Tech Park
Leveraging Active Machine Learning to Optimize 3D Printing Autonomously
Inkjet printing has evolved from a graphics and marking technology to a broader variety of additive manufacturing and 3D printing processes for electronic, optical, pharmaceutical, and biological applications. The success of adopting inkjet technology for these newer applications is contingent on whether the ink materials can be consistently and reliably jetted by the print systems. Currently, each printer-and-ink combination requires calibration by trial and error, which consumes a considerable amount of time and materials. IPB researcher, Prof. Anson Ma, Site Director of SHAP3D, teamed up with UConn machine learning expert, Prof. Qian Yang, to demonstrate a new concept of “autonomous 3D printing”, leveraging an active machine learning method they developed to efficiently create a jettability diagram that predicts the best conditions for jetting an ink from a printhead.
Briefly, a camera is used to image the printhead and capture the behavior of ink jetted from a printhead. Starting with a few randomly chosen conditions, a machine learning algorithm predicts the optimal jetting conditions and then “cleverly decides” on the next set of experiments that can further improve prediction accuracy. After performing those experiments, the algorithm analyzes the newly acquired images, updates the prediction for the desired jetting conditions, and iteratively selects the next experiments, continuing autonomously until a small experimental budget is reached. This approach has achieved a prediction accuracy of more than 95% while considerably reducing the number of experiments required by 80% compared to a typical grid-search approach. This novel approach is especially powerful for optimizing complex print systems with many tunable process parameters.
This work was recently published in the journal 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing (http://doi.org/10.1089/3dp.2023.0023) and led to a pending patent application (WO 2023/2788542).
UConn Students Help ASSA ABLOY Advance a Sustainable Future
Connecticut and University of Connecticut (UConn) are national leaders in Clean Energy and Sustainability. UConn was recently selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to lead a nationwide decarbonization effort, centrally coordinating critical activities that can facilitate the adoption of Onsite Sustainable Energy Technologies among large energy users. This honor builds upon UConn’s reputation as a national leader in advancing clean energy.
UConn’s Innovation Partnership Building (IPB) at UConn Tech Park is a focal point for businesses interested in reducing their carbon footprint. By connecting companies to critical energy research, incredible high-tech facilities, and programs like Senior Design projects and professional education, the IPB is committed to driving progress in sustainability, and securing a sustainable, efficient, and profitable future powered by clean energy.
Recently, the IPB began conversations with ASSA ABLOY on applying state-of-the-art research towards achieving ASSA ABLOY’s sustainability commitments. Discussions led to options for student engagement, particularly through UConn’s Senior Design program.
Each year, UConn’s School of Engineering capstone Senior Design program engages seniors, faculty, and industry in a yearlong partnership to develop and apply innovative solutions to engineering challenges faced in real-life business settings.
In 2023, over 240 Senior Design projects were sponsored by more than 120 global and domestic participating organizations representing manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, medical, consulting, and utilities sectors. Students and their supporting faculty advisor work together with an industry sponsor to develop solutions to real-life problems in the field. The students research and analyze the problem, conceptualize design solutions and present solutions that can make a real difference to local industry and the state of Connecticut.
Recognizing the potential of enlisting student help to achieve their sustainability goals, ASSA ABLOY sponsored two UConn Senior Design projects.
ASSA ABLOY is the global leader in access solutions, operating in over 70 countries around the world with industry leading innovation and technology, making them a perfect fit as a sponsor for the Senior Design projects.
ASSA ABLOY supported three Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering teams with two projects: reduced carbon footprint door construction, and improved materials for door-locking cylinder products for increased security. Through mentorship from ASSA ABLOY employees Dan Glover, Product Manager, Door Group; Dan Picard, Senior Director of Innovation, ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions Americas; and Clyde Roberson, Director of Product Management and Tech Services, Medeco Security Locks, the student teams spent two semesters dedicating hundreds of hours to their projects. Final projects were presented at an end-of-year public demonstration, where hundreds of teams shared their projects and findings.
“The projects we sponsored were based on some real challenges we have,” Picard explains. “We can only do so much with our limited resources, specifically on challenges surrounding science-based targets and materials themselves. We don’t have materials scientists or materials engineers in-house, so we must go to the experts. Fortunately, UConn has a wealth of experience and knowledge, so it made sense to sponsor the Senior Engineering Capstone projects.”
Sponsoring these projects also gave ASSA ABLOY the opportunity to meet new subject matter experts in these different areas and collaborate with UConn’s faculty. Picard affirms that “The engineering teams at UConn have access to some amazing technology, such as theoretical tools that help us to understand how materials function. These tools enabled the door construction project to do finite element analysis and see potential product failure points through all different types of door assemblies. They could test different amounts of force and impact resistance. This is something we do in our test lab, but they were able to simulate on a computer. The expertise of this software is something we don’t have in-house.”
Out of the 240 teams participating in Senior Design, one of ASSA ABLOY’s sponsored teams placed 3rd in the Materials Science and Engineering department competition. The project that focused on improving door locking cylinders for increased security and drill resistance, involved in-depth research of harder and tougher materials that improve the product but are easier to manufacture and machine.
“This team placing third is huge,” Glover explains. “They were competing against major companies and corporations like Sikorsky Helicopter, NASA, and Pratt and Whitney. They were also featured in UConn’s magazine, where only four projects were listed. It was an exciting achievement for them and for us as sponsors.”
What’s next for these winning ideas? They aren’t just forgotten at the end of the year. The work by the sponsored teams is being served as a baseline to kick-start new innovation initiatives at ASSA ABLOY.
“The teams at UConn provided us with ideas and insights that will help guide our future product development,” according to Picard. “We were beyond impressed with the results, particularly in lowering the CO2 footprint of the door, while maintaining its performance and integrity, and the investment was worth it. We had a real-life problem and were able to share our experiences with the students. In exchange, they provided us with hundreds of hours of research and offered potential solutions to our challenges.”
Both Glover and Picard comment on invaluable personal experiences during the program. “It’s an extra “above and beyond” what we normally do, but I learned so much,” Glover says. “I thank ASSA ABLOY for the opportunity to get involved and I would recommend we do it again in a heartbeat! It is such an enlightening experience and working with young engineers that see problems differently is energizing. We are helping develop our next generation of innovators and potential ASSA ABLOY teammates – it’s so rewarding.”
If your organization is interested in sponsoring a future UConn Senior Design project or partnering with IPB at UConn Tech Park to advance efficiency and competitiveness through sustainability, we would love to hear from you. Please contact:
| Senior Design
Charles B. Maric |
IPB Partnership for Sustainability
Michael DiDonato |
UConn’s SPARK, BRIDGE Summer Campers Visit IPB
This summer, IPB hosted budding young scientists participating in SPARK and BRIDGE, two UConn summer programs that serve underrepresented students including women and minorities, particularly in STEM fields. This was the perfect opportunity to pique curiosity and nurture interest in science and engineering among these middle and high school school students, who were excited to learn about engineering research applications and see firsthand IPB’s sophisticated technology including specialized 3D printers, nanoscale Xray tomography equipment and powerful electron microscopes, with visits to IPB’s additive manufacturing and materials characterization labs PW AMC, SHAP3D, and REFINE.
IPB’s Interim Executive Director Emmanouil Anagnostou stresses IPB’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, saying, “The IPB community strives to support these impactful educational efforts and it is an honor to help develop a future generation of engineers through programs that serve underrepresented groups.”
The SPARK tour was sponsored and facilitated by Pratt & Whitney’s Women’s Initiative for Success and Equity. SPARK and BRIDGE are made possible by UConn School of Engineering’s Vergnano Institute for Inclusion, launched in 2021 by alumni Betsy and Mark Vergnano, dedicated to increasing the number of underrepresented students in engineering and other STEM fields.
OPEN HOUSE at Eversource Energy Center’s RTDS Lab
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Open in new tab Six UConn Teams Innovating Decarbonization this Summer through Unique Eversource Partnership Program
Congratulations to the six finalists selected for The Clean Energy & Sustainability Innovation Program, a summer initiative backed by a UConn-Eversource partnership. These multidisciplinary student teams receive funding and support from faculty mentors and Eversource personnel to develop their proposed innovative strategies for achieving a sustainable future on local, state, and regional levels. We are excited to see their progress showcased at the Sustainable Clean Energy Fall 2023 Summit at UConn!
Read the full article in UConn Today: https://today.uconn.edu/2023/06/six-uconn-teams-innovating-decarbonization-this-summer-through-unique-eversource-partnership-program/
UConn Team Wins National Cybersecurity Competition
The Distinguished Gentlemen of UConn Cybersecurity emerged as champions in the standard bracket of the 2023 National Cyber League’s Spring Team Game. Employing tactics that identify vulnerabilities in computer systems and thwart cybercriminals, they achieved an outstanding victory. The team of seven was formed from the 40+ member strong UConn Cyber student club and led by club president Ronak Sahu (CSE & Applied Math ’23, returning for graduate school). Competing against university teams across the nation, the team tackled a series of simulated cybersecurity problems.
The competition served as a valuable opportunity for the club members to refine their cybersecurity skills and gain practical experience in addressing real-world cybersecurity challenges. It is a field many students aspire to work in as software engineers, responsible for safeguarding company machines and networks, which necessitates a deep understanding of computer systems that many people use without comprehending their inner workings.
While no team managed to solve all the problems, the UConn group solved 98 percent of them outright and made commendable progress on the remaining 2 percent.
One notable challenge required the team to breach a server belonging to Cyber Skyline, the competition’s sponsor. By reverse-engineering the Cyber Skyline website and exploiting a code weakness, they successfully gained access to the server and retrieved a specific file. Another task required analyzing a photograph to pinpoint its exact location. Utilizing open-source intelligence techniques and image analysis, they successfully identified the location as Shibuya City, Japan.
They also excelled in decrypting and reverse-engineering malicious software concealed within an image, discovering its intent to mine cryptocurrency. Only 15 teams out of 3,000 solved this particular challenge, and the Distinguished Gentlemen of UConn Cybersecurity were among them.
Participating in the competition additionally grants team members points towards certification from CompTIA, allowing them to showcase their practical cybersecurity skills and experience to potential employers.
For full article, see UConn Today here.
Science 1 Building Ribbon Cutting
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Celebrating Yasmin Bimbatti’s First Prize at North American Membrane Society Conference
We are thrilled to announce and congratulate Yasmin Bimbatti, a talented researcher from UConn Tech Park’s Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technologies (CCAST), on her remarkable achievement at the recent North American Membrane Society conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama earlier this month. Yasmin secured first prize in the competitive processes category for her poster on Printed Ultrathin film Nafion™ composite membranes by electrospray.
Yasmin’s achievement highlights the significance of applied separations technologies in solving critical challenges and advancing various industries. Her work not only contributes to the scientific community but also has the potential to make a real-world impact as it relates to manufacturing of membranes with this unique process invented at CCAST.
We extend our sincere congratulations to Yasmin for this well-deserved recognition. We would also like to express our gratitude to UConn’s Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technologies for fostering an environment that encourages and supports groundbreaking research. This achievement is a testament to the center’s commitment to advancing knowledge and addressing societal challenges through applied separations technologies.
Driving a Sustainable Future for Connecticut
Amy Thompson, a proactive professor-in-residence at UConn’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and at the Pratt & Whitney Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering at the IPB, is actively engaged in advancing energy efficiency and sustainability in Connecticut communities. Her brainchild, SmartBuildings CT, has been a driving force in collaborating with municipalities and school districts to evaluate energy consumption in public buildings while offering essential technical support, education, and training. Thompson’s program employs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s complimentary Portfolio Manager tool, enabling monitoring and analysis of energy usage patterns while assigning valuable Energy Star scores for comprehensive benchmarking. By identifying underperforming buildings and sharing best practices, SmartBuildings CT helps towns allocate resources effectively for energy improvements.
In partnership with Energize CT, the state’s energy efficiency programs, and Sustainable CT, a nonprofit organization that supports sustainability actions in Connecticut towns, Thompson has enabled over 70 towns and school districts to benchmark more than 3,064 buildings to date, helping towns establish energy accounts and identify opportunities for energy improvements and cost savings. She also works with the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to expand SmartBuildings CT’s reach to privately owned commercial and industrial buildings, aiming to empower small and medium-sized businesses with advanced methods and tools for sustainable practices.
“I always admire the research and the methods that are created here at UConn,” Thompson says. “When I’m not teaching, the thing I’m really interested in doing is getting those advanced technologies and advanced methods into the hands of people in Connecticut communities and businesses more quickly, so that they can make an impact. What you don’t want is a barrier to that, and I feel like our program is an example of technology transfer and knowledge transfer. It’s a great way to support Connecticut.”
In recognition of these valuable contributions towards sustainability, Thompson was awarded the Partner of the Year award from Sustainable CT in 2022. Yet Thompson’s achievements do not stop there.
The SmartBuildings CT program also provides tremendous value for workforce development and training opportunities for UConn engineering students. Thompson brings students a broader perspective on engineering fields and the types of work they can pursue. Students like Julia De Oliveira ’22 (ENG) have found the program instrumental in exploring their interest in energy and sustainability. Julia, now employed at Collins Aerospace, says, “Dr. Thompson herself really supports the students and helps them in their next opportunities, guiding them to what they may be interested in. Where I’m at now pretty much wouldn’t be possible without the program and Dr. Thompson.” Another student, Mohammed Albayati, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, has gained practical experience in energy efficiency systems and environmental sustainability. “I’m very proud of working on this project with Professor Thompson… [and] gaining those professional skills through this program, including learning how to communicate professionally with stakeholders like municipal leaders, directors of finance and buildings, utility employees, and even selectmen and women and mayors,” he says.
SmartBuildings CT is a part of the Pratt & Whitney Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering (PW IASE), located at the Innovative Partnership Building at UConn Tech Park. For more information, visit techpark.uconn.edu.
For full article, see UConn Today here.