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Mechanical Engineering graduate student David Catalini, and Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate student Aaron Leininger, are the 2017 recipients of the GDF-Suez Chuck Edwards Memorial Fellowships. These fellowships support students performing research in the areas of waste heat utilization in oil and gas industry (gas liquefaction), carbon dioxide sequestration using waste heat, absorption technology for solar cooling applications and waste heat utilization applications, as well as modeling for Small Autonomous Energy System design and optimization and small capacity combined heat and power (CHP) system laboratory performance. The fellowships of $25,000 each help to fund the students’ research.
Catalini’s project; “Environmentally safe air conditioning: An elasto-caloric heat pump”, will be a step in the development of heat pumping alternative technology that does not require the use of refrigerant fluids that contribute to global warming. And, in doing so, he hopes to increase the efficiency of the technology by studying a novel structural design to increase operating frequency and minimize the energy input. Catalini is co-advised by Reinhard Radermacher, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Ichiro Takeuchi, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering.
Leininger’s project is “Integration of microbial electrolysis cells into wastewater treatment for energy recovery”. The support from his fellowship will allow him to evaluate the potential for implementation of a pilot-scale Microbial Electrolysis Cells (MEC) at the DC Water Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), as well as design, build, and optimize the performance of a pilot-scale MEC. Leininger is advised by Birthe Veno Kjellerup, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Since 2002, Trigen-Cinergy Solutions (Suez) has awarded fellowships at the University of Maryland through a fund created to support energy conversion education and research at the A. James Clark School of Engineering. In 2014, the fellowship was renamed the GDF-Suez Chuck Edwards Memorial Fellowship to honor the memory of Mr. Chuck Edwards, the late general manager at GDF Suez Energy North America and long-time fellowship benefactor.
The fellowship provides financial support to fund students' research and graduate assistant positions. A faculty committee selects students based on academic merit, recommendation and alignment of research goals in the area of energy conversion systems and related technology.
October 16, 2017
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