ENGINEERING ALUMNI SOCIETY AWARDEES IN ENERGY AND ADVANCED MATERIALS After graduation, Elizabeth Andrews ’12 ChE, ’18 MSSE (Meritorious Service Award) joined the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission where she became a qualified nuclear power plant inspector. She was previously a resident inspector at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station and is currently a health physicist inspecting plants to ensure their safe operation in accordance with federal regulations.
ENGINEERING FRESHMAN INVESTIGATES STATE OF CARBON TAXATION Through the Clare Booth Luce Engineering Scholars Program, Victoria Margenat ’24 ME is working with Dr. Aaron Wemhoff, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and researcher in Villanova’s Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2), on analyzing carbon taxation strategies with a specific focus on reducing the environmental footprint of data centers. Data centers collectively consume approximately 2% to 3% of U.S. electricity, and a single data center can consume as much electrical power as a power plant generates. While data center industry groups and related publications have indicated a growing interest in sustainability, the industry as a whole is unlikely to adopt suggestions for reducing their carbon footprint unless there is a financial driver to do so. “Therefore,” says Dr. Wemhoff, “one of our center’s goals is to link environmental and economic metrics for managing data centers to tools and metrics that can be easily incorporated into making data center design decisions, specifically in cooling system design and in incorporating on-site renewable energy.” One missing piece of key financial information is the state of carbon taxation and cap-and-trade programs, which are present in Canada and Europe, but are not common in the U.S., outside of California and a few mid-Atlantic states. Victoria is working on a comprehensive survey of currently active and proposed programs to pinpoint areas where pursuing environmental sustainability measures are most attractive. She will present this research to data center industry leaders during ES2 web meetings, as well as via a poster at the ES2 semiannual industrial advisory board meeting. The goal is to have a comprehensive review condensed into a single document to be made available to the data center industry.
After active duty as an aircraft commander, Eugene Fogarty, PE, ’58 EE (Meritorious Service Award) was employed by the Philadelphia Electric Company (now PECO) where his assignments included startup of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, director of research, and chief planning and research engineer. He later served as a nuclear consultant. David Guro ’84 ChE (Professional Achievement Award) is director of Global Product Management at Air Products where he is responsible for the strategic direction, overall growth and profitability of Air Products’ generated gases and cryogenic air separation product lines. Guro’s pioneering work on adsorption technology, hydrogen plant design, hydrogen refueling systems and carbon dioxide capture are foundational to the platforms that underpin Air Products’ ongoing growth. Ean Mulligan ’09 ME (Meritorious Service Award) has 11 years of experience in the energy industry, five of which have been in renewables. He currently works as the vice president of development at Foundation Solar Partners. Previously, Mulligan worked at Cypress Creek Renewables overseeing a community solar portfolio of over 400MWs across 80 projects in the Northeast. A Fellow at Air Products—the company’s highest level of achievement among technical experts—Patrick J. Smith ’82 ME, ’90 MSME (Carl T. Humphrey Award) is the global machinery technology manager and the global machinery lead on the Operational Excellence Technical team.
