The A.J. Drexel Institute for Energy and the Environment (IExE) has awarded the IExE and Drexel-SARI Seed Grants to 33 faculty and staff of the University. Half of the awardees are from the following departments of the College of Engineering:
- Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering: Emin Aktan, Charles Haas, Franco Montalto, Sabrina Spatari, Jin Wen, Mira Olson, Christopher Sales and Peter DeCarlo
- Electrical and Computer Engineering: Nagarajan Kandasamy, Chika Nwankpa, Karen Miu and Dagmar Niebur.
- Materials Science and Engineering: Mitra Taheri
- Chemical and Biological Engineering: Steven Wrenn
The committee received 27 proposals for the IExE Seed Funding Competition. Following a merit review process that included both external and internal reviewers, six projects were selected for funding.
The finalists from the selected teams bring expertise from a diverse set of academic units. The projects funded are as follows:
- Balduccini, Kandasamy, Mancoridis, Nwankpa, Robustness Testing of Smart Grids, $50,000 (CCI, CoE)
- Gurian, Aktan, Dilworth, Ellis, Haas, Hunold, Montalto, Spatari, Wen, Planning for Deep Reductions in Carbon Emissions in Philadelphia by 2050, $50,000 (CoE, CoMAD, CoAS)
- Kenner, Sheller, Miu-Miller, Neibur, Nwankpa, Shifting Engagements with Energy in a Smart Campus Environment, $50,000 (CoAS, CoE)
- Gross-Davis, Gurian, Olson, Taylor, Assessment of Human Health Risk from Operational Failure Incidents and Regulatory Violations during Natural Gas Drilling, $50,000 (SPH, CoE)
- Tikekar, Sales, Novel Photochemical and Biological Processes for Decontamination of Flowback Water from Hydraulic Fracturing of the Marcellus Shale, $50,000 (HSM, CoE)
- Wrenn, DeCarlo, Ultrasound-Driven Removal and Capture of Dissolved Methane from Spent Fracking Fluids and Household Drinking Water, $20,000 (CoE)
The recipients and winning projects of the Drexel-SARI Center for Global Research and Education – Collaborative Research in Energy and the Environment competition include:
- Ji, Sohlberg (CoAS), Wei, Chen (SARI), Novel Porous metal Organic Framework (MOF) materials for CO2 Uptake and Other Energy Applications - $150,000
- Taheri (CoE), Xue-Mei (SARI), PtM Intermetallic Electro-nanocatalysts: Controlled Synthesis, In situ TEM Observation of Phase Transformation, and Application in Fuel Cell - $150,000
- Liu, Haas (SPH, CoE), Wang, Huang (SARI), Drexel-SARI Co-Research and Education on Low Carbon and Healthy City Technology - $150,000