Faculty Research Receives Support from State Innovation Program

Three college faculty members are the recipients of funding from Pennsylvania’s Manufacturing PA Innovation Program. This program looks to fund projects to “support industrial innovation and position the Commonwealth at the forefront of the next wave of manufacturing.” The faculty and projects are:

• Andrew Magenau, PhD, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has received funds to collaborate with Braskem S.A. to develop an enhanced additive manufacturing process that would enable the production of mechanically robust polypropylene components and a greatly expanded application space.
• Caroline Schauer, PhD, Margaret C. Burns Chair in Engineering and Professor of materials science and engineering, and Jonathan Deutsch, professor and director of the Drexel Food Lab, have received funds to partner with Altered State Distillery to build the product design, formulation, packaging chemistry and commercialization for two to three new ready-to-drink (RTD) shelf-stable beverages with the goal of bringing unique craft RTDs to market, growing the Northwest PA food and beverage manufacturing industry and creating new jobs.
• Antonios Zavaliangos, PhD, A.W. Grosvenor Professor of materials science and engineering, has received funds to partner with Natoli Scientific to address the problem of powder adhesion and accumulation (sticking) on tableting tools during pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing. The goal of this work is to provide a scientific basis for rational decisions in manufacturing of pharmaceutical tablets that are susceptible to the problem of sticking.