The Center of Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2) hosted its first C2E2 Graduate Student Research Summit in Sustainability on February 16th and 17th at IPB. Organized by graduate students Alanna Gado and Leila Chebbo, the event featured 30 student presentations covering diverse research topics such as cultivated beef, air filter effectiveness, desalination, desulfurization, space exploration, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and membrane applications.
The summit offered a venue for doctoral candidates to share their ongoing research and engage in discussions about sustainability challenges. Participants had the opportunity to refine their presentation skills and receive feedback from both peers and faculty members. Networking sessions facilitated connections among students and others within the C2E2 community.
Presentations were evaluated by the audience, with awards given in three categories. Leila Chebbo took first place, followed by Christabel Adjah-Tetteh in second, and Alanna Gado, Hasnain Nisar, Yasmin Bimbatti, and Ben Cohen sharing third place. Additionally, honorable mentions were awarded to Elena Ford, Christopher Hawxhurst, and Hasan Nikkah.
The summit demonstrated the students’ commitment to advancing clean energy technologies and tackling sustainability challenges, and underscores C2E2’s commitment to fostering the development of future researchers and innovators in the field.
Student Advisors
Christabel Adjah-Tetteh
Professor Xiao-Dong Zhou, Director of C2E2
Chemical Engineering
Yasmin Bimbatti
Professor Jeffrey McCutcheon
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Leila Chebbo
Associate Professor Ali Bazzi
Electrical Computing and Engineering
Ben Cohen
Professor George Bollas &
Assistant Professor Burcu Beykal
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Elena Ford
Assistant Research Professor Naba Karan
C2E2
Alanna Gado
Radenka Maric President | University of Connecticut Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor
Christopher Hawxhurst
Professor Lesli Shor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Hasan Nikkah
Associate Professor Burcu Beykal
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Hasnain Nisar
Assistant Professor Ali Bazzi
Electrical Computing and Engineering
Tech Park is delighted to welcome the recently established Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center, co-directed by Tiffany Kelley, UConn School of Nursing and Leila Daneshmandi, UConn College of Engineering. The new center, one of the first of its kind in the nation, focuses on advancing healthcare and promoting workforce and economic development by fostering interdisciplinary collaborations between nursing and engineering.
Patient healthcare greatly benefits from and is influenced by new technologies, but implementing new technology effectively can be a challenge. Engineers are expert problem solvers and builders but may lack clinical insights that are essential for application. Nurses, on the other hand, are ground-floor experts for how a product “should” work and often find themselves improvising solutions for technologies that are complex or less practical.
The Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center aims to bridge this gap by involving nurses and engineers early in the design phase, addressing real-world issues before a product reaches the clinic. User-centered design is a critical first step in overcoming these technology design barriers and holds significant potential to enhance patient care and amplify the impact of healthcare innovations.
The Center will focus its first two to three years on the creation of seed grants for collaborative research among faculty along with joint educational programs for students through Senior Design, coursework, and fellowship programs.
The Center recently announced its NursEng Healthcare Innovation Seed Grant and is currently accepting proposals through November 15, 2023, 5:00 pm. This seed grant was established to promote and support interdisciplinary and innovative research, scholarship, and creative collaborations among faculty from the Schools of Nursing and Engineering that will advance innovation in healthcare technology and have strong potential as a foundation for extramural funding for larger-scale innovation and research activities in the future.
Innovation research, scholarship, and creative collaborations funded by this grant are expected to lead to significant long-term outcomes, such as publications, intellectual property, academic symposia, and future research, scholarship, or collaborations. Click here for more details.
In another initiative, the Center launched the NursEng Innovation Fellowship in April that teams up nursing and engineering undergraduates and empowers them to tackle unmet needs in equitable healthcare quality and to design innovative healthcare technology solutions.
Daneshmandi, a seasoned entrepreneur, explains, “this new program is designed to foster creativity, collaboration, and user-driven innovation and entrepreneurial thinking in healthcare.”
Students are selected for the Fellowship through a proposal process to collaborate as part of an interdisciplinary team to address a healthcare challenge in need of a technological solution. Throughout the academic year, Fellows are trained in user-driven innovation, prototype development, and entrepreneurial skills. Students also benefit from mentoring sessions and access to prototyping centers and receive up to $1750 in seed funding to support prototype development. At the culmination of the Fellowship year, each student team will present their project achievements and upon successful completion of the program, Fellows will receive a certificate of completion. This initiative is currently funded by an awarded Courses and Programs grant from VentureWell.
The Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center’s longer-term strategy is to expand its scope to create a shared state-of-the-art research and teaching facility, which will require major University, state, federal, or donor investment.
Kelley is enthusiastic about the potential offered by the new Center, saying, “By partnering our students and workforce in the nursing and engineering fields and advancing their education with the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward innovative behaviors and culture, we hold the potential to drive significant positive change in the profession of nursing and health care at large.”
Visit the Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center web site to learn more about the Center, meet this year’s seven Fellows, and find out about other opportunities at the Nursing and Engineering Innovation Center.
Tiffany Kelley, Ph.D., MBA, RN-BC, is Visiting Professor and Director of the UConn School of Nursing’s Healthcare Innovation Online Graduate Certificate Program. Leila Daneshmandi, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in Residence in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director of the entrepreneurship Hub (eHub) in the UConn School of Engineering.
The center allows engineering students of all backgrounds to improve their skills in cutting-edge subject areas and develop in-depth knowledge tailored to their specific professional goals. Offered through the UConn School of Engineering, the Center for Advanced Engineering Education (CAEE) offers top-tier teaching that’s relevant, accessible, interactive, convenient, and affordable.
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.
UConn Senior Design Day 2023, Gampel Pavilion
“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.
UConn Senior Design MSE team 3rd place winners: Jonathan Bane, Matthew Carragher & Charles Schwarz
“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
Director of Technical Business Development, Senior Design Projects
UConn School of Engineering
Charles.Maric@UConn.edu
860-428-2258
IPB Partnership for Sustainability
Michael DiDonato
Business Development Manager
Innovation Partnership Building at UConn Tech Park
Michael.DiDonato@UConn.edu
203-671-8719
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.
Pamir Alpay, Materials Science and Engineering GE Professor in Advanced Manufacturing, Associate Dean for Research and Industrial Partnerships at the School of Engineering (SoE), Executive Director of UConn Tech Park
Pamir Alpay, Materials Science and Engineering GE Professor in Advanced Manufacturing, has been appointed as Associate Dean for Research and Industrial Partnerships at the School of Engineering (SoE). Dr. Alpay will continue as the Executive Director of UConn Tech Park, with the dual roles enabling him to lead engineering centers and applied research initiatives.
Dean Kazem Kazerounian announced the new title last week in an email to the SoE community.
“We are thrilled to have someone with Dr. Alpay’s experience taking the lead on our industry relations and research development,” Kazerounian said, adding that he is “excited for the future” of the school.
As Executive Director of UConn Tech Park, Dr. Alpay leads the University’s efforts to increase strategic partnerships with businesses in a state-of-the-art research and development facility. Dr. Alpay joined UConn’s MSE department in 2001 and served as its Program Director and subsequently as its Department Head from 2011 to 2017. He received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Maryland.
He is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Ceramic Society. He is the recipient of several awards including the NSF CAREER grant in 2001, the UConn School of Engineering Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in 2004, the UConn School of Engineering Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award in 2013 and the AAUP Excellence in Career Research and Creativity Award in 2018. Dr. Alpay has over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and conference proceedings, four invited book chapters and a book on functionally graded ferroelectrics.
The Center of Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2) hosted its first C2E2 Graduate Student Research Summit in Sustainability on February 16th and 17th at IPB. Organized by graduate students Alanna Gado and Leila Chebbo, the event featured 30 student presentations covering diverse research topics such as cultivated beef, air filter effectiveness, desalination, desulfurization, space exploration, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and membrane applications.
