2023-24 MCSI GRANT RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

MCSI is pleased to announce its 2023-24 faculty grant awardees. These programs help both faculty and students engage in sustainability-related research, education, and outreach. Learn more about MCSI’s research funding.

Research Seed Grants in Sustainability

Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, GSPIA

Tony Kerzmann, MechanicalEngineering Deploying Solar Projects in Rural Southwestern Pennsylvania: Understanding & Securing Community Acceptance

Mohammad Masnadi, ChemicalEngineering Cellulosic Biomass Conversion via Liquid Metal Catalysis

Cori Richards-Zawacki, Biology Building & Bridging On-Campus & FieldBased Summer Undergraduate Research Programs in Sustainability

Sachin Velankar, ChemicalEngineering Thermal Desalination Process Based on Hydrate Crystallization of Polyoxacyclobutane

John C. Mascaro Faculty Scholars

Inhee Lee, Electrical&ComputerEngineering Creating a Sustainability Network between Engineering & Ecology for Ecosystem Monitoring

Sarah Moore, Film & Media Studies Sustainability Through the Lens of Film & Media Projects

John C. Mascaro Faculty Lecturers

Mohamed Bayoumy, Electrical&Computer Eng Green Computing & Sustainable Software Development

Amr Mahmoud, Electrical&Computer Engineering

Integrating Green Electronics Education in ECE Classes II

Stephen Quigley, English My Nature Outing Curriculum Development

New Facilities to Advance Sustainability Research

Engineering Resilience (DISCOVER) Laboratory Gets New Digital-Twin Infrastructure Science for Operation & Visualization

Housed in the new DISCOVER lab in Benedum Hall, Dr. Alessandro Fascetti’s research and educational hub helps generate new models and tools digitalize the built environment, with the ultimate goal of providing science-based methodologies for assessing the resilience of large-scale infrastructure systems. By blending augmented and virtual reality environments, advanced remote sensing techniques, monitoring structural health, and performing predictive modeling, the DISCOVER lab advances science and technology in infrastructure resilience, one of the major engineering challenges of the next decades. These advanced digitalization techniques are poised to dramatically change the way civil infrastructure is planned, designed, constructed, maintained, and decommissioned. The lab’s cutting-edge research can be directly translated into practice via undergraduate student engagement, collaborations with stakeholders and federal agencies, and outreach. Advanced visualization techniques have been proven to significantly increase the potential for communicating complex scientific concepts via accessible and immersive virtual environments.