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RIT’s Battery Prototyping Center part of state team awarded millions to establish Battery-NY Collaboration with SUNY Binghamton and NYBEST lays groundwork for advanced battery research, manufacturing and workforce development hub
Rochester Institute of Technology is part of a major national initiative that secured more than $63.7 million to establish upstate New York as a national hub for battery research and manufacturing.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer announced that Binghamton University’s New Energy New York Proposal secured substantial funding for the new hub, Battery-NY, which will include partners such as RIT’s Battery Prototyping Center and New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology.
The new hub aims to build a national center for increasing battery technologies and manufacturing toward new research, attracting additional companies to the state, and the creation of high-paying, high-tech jobs. Funding is part of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration and the American Rescue Plan’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge.
RIT’s contribution will be an expansion of its energy storage workforce development efforts through nearly $3.5 million from the Battery-NY award. The Battery Prototyping Center is a key resource to support early-stage development of next generation lithium-ion cells and materials. The team has worked with more than 100 customers from academia, government, a variety of industry manufacturers, and technology hubs.
“We are very proud of both the entire NENY coalition and the role RIT was able to play in securing the Build Back Better funding for our region,” said Ryne Raffaelle, RIT vice president for research and associate provost. “We are so excited to leverage the RIT/NY BEST Battery Prototyping Facility, along with the BEST Test and Commercialization Center, also located in Rochester at Kodak Park, in support of our coalition partners in the Southern Tier.”
Battery technologies are essential for varied industries from automotives and medical devices to defense and national security. Based in Binghamton and led by Distinguished Professor and 2019 Nobel Prize winner M. Stanley Whittingham and Binghamton Associate Vice President Per Stromhaug, Battery-NY will provide research and development of nextgeneration batteries and other clean-energy technologies to help establish a stronger manufacturing infrastructure.
“New Energy New York will make the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes America’s home for battery innovation and production, bring manufacturing back from overseas, and train thousands of workers for good-paying jobs in an industry that will define this century,” Schumer said in a statement. “Broome County was once the global home to innovation, as the birthplace of IBM, flight simulation, and virtual reality, and this project will breathe new life into that legacy, showing the world what I have long known: that Binghamton and Upstate New York
RIT’s Battery Prototyping Center will play a major role supporting workforce development and new research in battery storage and technology as part of Battery-NY. The center is one of the collaborative partners selected for funding through the American Rescue Plan’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge. Researchers Matt Ganter and Matthew Schauerman, center, explain battery development equipment to guests. Credit: Elizabeth Lamark/RIT
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workers can lead the effort to bring manufacturing back to America, and take us into the future.”
The 13 partners include Binghamton University, NY-BEST, SUNY Broome, SUNY Corning Community College, RIT, and NYSTAR, among other key organizations such as IncubatorWorks, Clean Fight New York, and county and state government entities. Each of the partners will contribute expertise in the areas of manufacturing lithium ion batteries, development of workforce training and in sustainability and new energy alternatives.
Multiple investments have already been made through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $6 billion in federal incentives to expand capabilities of U.S.-based battery research and development, bolster domestic battery production, and shore up the American supply chain for batteries and energy storage technology that is often reliant on foreign sources. A $50 million award was announced by the governor in her January 2022 state address, and the new award from EDA puts the investment in New York state well over $100 million. q
RIT News
Engineering Technology Assistant Professor Honored as a 2022 KEEN Rising Star Jennifer O’Neil honored for innovative teaching methods and improvements to student learning
Jennifer O’Neil was recently named a KEEN Rising Star, an honor given to recognize a faculty member’s ability to improve student learning and to equip undergraduate engineers with the tools to solve societal problems.
O’Neil, an assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, teaches courses in RIT’s College of Engineering Technology (CET) and is one of the leaders of the university’s faculty teaching circles, a mentoring and faculty development initiative. She played a significant role in introducing KEEN’s Entrepreneurial Mindset to the university and has championed its philosophy of integrating theory with real-world situations to make positive change in society.
“Jen’s efforts, which began with a brief presentation to the College of Engineering Technology leadership team nearly five years ago, have blossomed into a multicollege collaboration that includes dozens of faculty members actively engaged with entrepreneurial minded learning,” said Mike Eastman, CET’s associate dean for Academic Programs and Continuous Improvement.
“Jen has inspired countless faculty and students with her innovative, student-centered teaching practices and has been the catalyst for engaging every new faculty member in the College of Engineering Technology and the Kate Gleason College of Engineering with EML. She has been instrumental in laying the foundation for a new vision of student success at RIT.”
O’Neil’s mechanical engineering technology coursework often includes the integration of economics, social, and government factors with engineering theory as a way to expand how students problem solve and develop technical solutions. Student comments were included as part of her nomination package, and one stated: “Listen up… RIT – this is how you teach! This is how you engage your students! Dr. O’Neil… is superb! Everyone should come in and watch her class and take notes… Her way of teaching is amazingly effective and should be instilled in this major’s core.”
Outside of the classroom, O’Neil is an advocate of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network—KEEN—and serves as a coach during Engineering Unleashed faculty development workshops; she also led efforts to attain and conduct teaching and leadership research on engineering education improvements as part of RIT’s Innovative Learning Institute.
In recognition of the honor, RIT will receive a $10,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation toward a campus project with O’Neil ’08 (mechanical engineering) named as principal investigator. She will also be recognized at the 2023 KEEN National Conference, taking place in January 2023 in Atlanta.
Jennifer O’Neil, an assistant professor in RIT’s College of Engineering Technology, was recently named a KEEN Rising Star, an honor given to recognize a faculty member’s ability to improve student learning and to equip undergraduate engineers with the tools to solve societal problems. Credit: Elizabeth Lamark/RIT
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Campus News
Prosthetics design integrating 3D printing takes third place in international challenge Jade Myers’ flexible limb socket design is recognized for improved performance and cost effectiveness
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Jade Myers’ experience in Haiti several years ago helping refugees after a devastating earthquake left an impression that is inspiring her work today as a researcher in prosthetics and accessibility.
Myers, who uses 3D print technology to develop upper and lower limb prostheses for amputees, was a top three winner of the nTopology-EOS 2022 Responsible Part Challenge, an international design competition. Her project, improving prosthetic sockets with density-graded lattice, was recognized for its innovation and potential impact the new design could have.
Myers was one of the students from 28 colleges and universities across 16 countries who participated in the annual event featuring designs in light-weighting, thermal management, sustainable energy, architected materials, and industrial design categories.
The technology gets Myers one step closer to a distinctive type of prosthesis that is more functional than traditional designs. She created a variable-density lattice structure to improve the connection where the body meets the prosthetic device.
“Light-weighting is super important for people with limited muscle and bone structure, and this is one of the areas where 3D printing, in our experience, has been very positive. The devices are much lighter than those traditionally manufactured,” said Myers, a Ph.D. candidate in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. She also teaches courses in the engineering college and participates in interdisciplinary projects taking place at the LiveAbility Lab, an initiative based in the university’s Partnership for Effective Access Technology Research and Development.
There are several types of prosthetic sockets designed to interface with residual limbs. A more recent style developed is called a compression-release-stabilized (CRS) socket. Compression on either side of the humerus bone, for example, helps stabilize the prosthesis, and release areas ensure the soft tissue has a place to emerge.
“That is where this lattice structure comes in,” she said. “There are better ways to precisely control compression by changing the density of the lattice structure.”
Picking up items with a prosthesis means weight is added causing uneven pressure, or weight-load, concentrated on the far end of the bone. Adjusting pressure along the length of the bone and device can increase utility and range of motion, plus ease pain on the compressed tissue.
Inspiration for her new socket design came from running shoes.
Jade Myers, an engineering doctoral candidate and member of RIT’s LiveAbility Lab, recently placed third in the international nTopology-EOS Responsible Part Challenge. She was recognized for her improved prosthetic device designed with lattice structures. Credit: A. Sue Weisler/RIT
“I knew they were using lattice structures at Adidas for running shoes to adjust pressure in different areas of the
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foot based on sensor readings,” she said. “Where individuals were putting the most pressure on their feet, that is where they put the dense lattice to make it firmer. I thought, why can’t we do that with prosthetic sockets?”
Myers re-worked the idea to form a padded socket with varied areas of density in RIT’s AMPrint Center, a campus laboratory and research facility focusing on additive manufacturing and 3D print advances. After compression, pressure, fatigue, and new materials testing, she will begin prototyping 3D printed models.
“We want it to have both form and function,” she said.
When Myers first began work in prosthetics, she was part of a nonprofit health organization associated with RIT and was instrumental in helping clinicians in Haiti understand how 3D-printed prostheses could be added to their practice.
While there, she met Danie, a young woman who lost her arm during the earthquake in 2010. Myers was touched by her plight, but also saw her as someone with a will to live despite hardships and socio-cultural stigma encountered in her community because of her amputation.
One of Myers’ designs for a new prosthetic socket is made through 3D printing and is light-weight, and has the potential to improve flexibility for amputees. Credit: Provided by J. Myers
“Danie inspired me. In Haiti it is very hard for a person to not only afford a prosthesis, but to get to a clinic. Some people are spending the night outside of the clinic waiting for them to create this device that takes several days for them to make,” said Myers. “Being able to manufacture the devices faster is one of the things we want to do. We want to be able to provide things people can afford, and that work well for them. The faster it happens, the sooner people like Danie can have the opportunity to wear these. It not only impacts them—it can have a ripple effect on families and their opportunities, too. It gives me greater drive, practically a desperation to do better faster because I have had the opportunity to see with my own eyes what a real difference it has potential to make for people. I can never imagine doing anything else with my life.”
Myers and Danie have remained in contact since meeting, now co-designing devices together. The two have become good friends, and Myers has visited Haiti on several occasions seeing her friend re-building her life. Myers expects to graduate with her doctoral degree in 2023. q
RIT became a member of KEEN in 2019. A national partnership of more than 50 universities, the group focuses on developing graduates who are technically prepared, understand societal changes and strategically seek opportunities to improve upon these changes by combining engineering skills with the mindset of entrepreneurs. Engineering education is transitioning across the country toward designing products and services that better serve society overall. KEEN and its entrepreneurial mindset is a progressive way of preparing the next generation of engineers, who will be expected to anticipate, and act on, societal changes. Since 2019, several RIT faculty have been recognized as Engineering Unleashed Fellows for improvements to, and leadership in, engineering education. Teaching strategies based on the entrepreneurial mindset have also been integrated into New Faculty Orientation at the university. q
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