CoE Awards Funding for Research, Innovation Projects by Faculty at University, SUNY ESF

SyracuseCoE has announced that six research and innovations projects led by faculty members from Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) were competitively selected to receive awards totalling $114,000. The projects engage a total of 12 faculty members from four schools and colleges at Syracuse University and SUNY ESF.

The awards expand the Faculty Fellows Program that SyracuseCoE launched in the 2015-2016 academic year. Each faculty member who is involved in a project will be appointed as a SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellow for a three-year term, joining the ranks of 22 SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellows who were appointed last year.

Projects were selected based on proposals received through a request for proposals issued by SyracuseCoE earlier this year. SyracuseCoE is New York State’s Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, which is led by Syracuse University in collaboration with SUNY ESF, SUNY Upstate Medical University, CenterState Corp. for Economic Opportunity and dozens of partner firms.

“These new projects will engage faculty members and students to address strategically targeted questions that align with SyracuseCoE’s mission to catalyze research that accelerates innovations in environmental and energy systems,“ says SyracuseCoE Executive Director Ed Bogucz, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “We look forward to growing this program and the support it provides to the researchers throughout the region.”

“In addition to supporting individual faculty research,” notes Sherburne Abbott, vice president for Sustainability Initiatives and University Professor at Syracuse University, “the SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellows Program fosters a broad culture of innovation and collaboration in support of the University’s research excellence initiatives.”

The projects, principal investigators and their collaborators are:

VIS-SIM: A Framework for Designing Neighborhood Energy Efficiency through Data Visualization and Calibrated Urban Building Energy Simulation
Elizabeth Krietemeyer, assistant professor, School of Architecture
Tarek Rakha, assistant professor, School of Architecture
Jason Dedrick, professor, School of Information Studies

Thermo-Mechanical Fuel Reforming for Fuel Cell Energy Systems
Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, College of Engineering & Computer Science
Jeongmin Ahn, associate professor, mechanical and aerospace engineering, College of Engineering & Computer Science

Air Pollutants and their Effects on the Syracuse Urban Landscape
Charles T. Driscoll, University Professor of Environmental Systems, College of Engineering & Computer Science

Temporal Changes in Methane Concentrations in Domestic Groundwater Wells in the Marcellus Shale Region
Laura Lautz, associate professor of Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Gregory Hoke, assistant professor of Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Zunli Lu, assistant professor of Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences

Water Resources Quality in the Urban Heat Island: Exploring Longitudinal Patterns of Stream Temperature via UAV
Christa Kelleher, assistant professor of Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, & assistant professor of civil engineering, College of Engineering & Computer Science

Valorization of Biorefinery Lignin
Biljana Bujanovic, associate professor of paper and bioprocess engineering, SUNY ESF
Arthur J. Stipanovic, professor of chemistry, SUNY ESF

More information on each project can be found on SyracuseCoE’s web site.

The awards were made possible by funding to support SyracuseCoE actitivites awarded by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). The next request for proposals for the SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellows Program is planned for in April 2017 for projects beginning in July 2017.