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Using AI to Optimize Hydrogen Fuel Production and Reduce Environmental Impact: WPI Research Published in Nature Chemical Engineering

jcain — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +0000

To increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of hydrogen fuel production, Fanglin Che, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is leveraging the power and potential of machine learning and computational modeling. The multi-university team she leads has completed a research study that was just published in Nature Chemical Engineering. The study utilized artificial intelligence to identify catalysts with the potential to facilitate cleaner and more efficient hydrogen production.

In the paper, Che and the team present a new strategy to overcome two challenges:

Production hurdles that prevent greater adoption of hydrogen, a fuel that does not emit carbon dioxide
The length of time it takes to identify materials that are optimal catalysts for cleaner hydrogen production

Hurdles to hydrogen

Efforts to improve environmental sustainability and increase the availability of clean energy have long been focused on hydrogen. However, hydrogen is often produced using fossil fuels, which generate carbon dioxide.

An alternative method to produce hydrogen is to use a catalyst to break down carbon-free ammonia into its elements, which include hydrogen. However, this approach as currently designed requires very high temperatures, which are often achieved by using a lot of energy produced by fossil fuels, as well as ruthenium, an expensive rare metal that is used as a catalyst.

Clearing the hurdles

Che鈥檚 team proposes to reduce the carbon footprint of hydrogen production by decomposing ammonia using plasma technology, which can be done at lower temperatures than traditional chemical reactions. The researchers also propose using more commonly found and affordable metal alloys, such as iron-copper or nickel-molybdenum, as catalysts. Their analysis found this method would use less energy and perform just as well as current approaches to hydrogen production.

Identifying the catalysts

With more than 3,300 bimetallic alloys to consider as possible catalysts, testing each in a laboratory using traditional experiments would take a lengthy trial-and-error period. By leveraging computer models and artificial intelligence, Che鈥檚 team developed interpretable machine learning algorithms to identify earth-abundant metal alloys that outperform ruthenium catalysts in plasma-assisted ammonia decomposition. This combination of simulations and machine learning streamlined the process by quickly eliminating unsuitable materials and identified six candidates from abundant and easily sourced noncritical minerals. Laboratory tests validated the anticipated performance of the metal alloys and ultimately the researchers selected four alloys as the best catalysts.

Potential applications

Che鈥檚 team believes this new approach to producing hydrogen has the potential to be more affordable and cleaner than current methods. Additionally, because ammonia is easy to store and transport, this process could enable on-site hydrogen production on ships, allowing for maritime vessels to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The research team

Che鈥檚 MAC (Modeling and AI in Catalysis) Lab at WPI combined multi-scale simulations with interpretable machine learning to develop predictions. Their work on the project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

鈥淏eing published in Nature Chemical Engineering is a milestone for our lab,鈥?says Che. 鈥淲e are making great progress using computational and AI techniques to make chemical processes more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.鈥?lt;/span>

Researchers at Dalian University of Technology in China conducted laboratory-based validation experiments. Researchers at Northeastern University conducted economic and environmental analysis that suggests plasma technology reduces costs and carbon emissions in hydrogen production when implemented in small, modular reactors.

Join Us August 8 as RET Teachers Present UN SDG Research at Poster Symposium

ablessington — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

A select group of eight middle and high school teachers have been spending their summer working in WPI faculty labs as part of the NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program, and will be presenting their research projects at the RET Poster Symposium on Friday, August 8, from 10:30 am鈥?1:30 am in Higgins House. Their research connects to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and has inspired integrated STEM lessons to be implemented in their math and science classrooms.

All are invited to attend this event, which will include coffee and light refreshments.

We look forward to seeing you there as we celebrate our teachers鈥?research and their plans to bring these experiences back to their classrooms.

(L-R) Demetrios Kennedy, Jesse Drozd, Abigail Prisby, Em Beeler, Tiffini Cornock, Deborah Baird, Michael Nixdorf Jared Quinn

2025 RET RESEARCH PROJECTS

Research Project (UN SDG #)	Research Project	WPI Faculty Mentor, Department	Teacher, Licensure, School	Teacher, Licensure, School/Major
#7 鈥?Affordable & Clean Energy	Magnesium Production and Recycling for Clean Energy	Adam Powell (Mechanical & Materials Eng./ Chemical Eng.)	Jared Quinn (Life Sciences, Overlook MS, Ashburnham)	Demetrios Kennedy (HS Chemistry, WPI Chemistry)
#3 鈥?Good Heath and Well-Being	Antibiotic Resistance in Mycobacteria	Scarlet Shell (Biology & Biotechnology)	Abigail Prisby (HS Biology, Groton-Dunstable HS)	Em Beeler (HS Math, Burncoat HS, Worcester)
#13 鈥?Climate Action	Removing PFAS from Contaminated Soils	Andrew Teixeira & Mike Timko (Chemical Eng.)	Tiffini Cornock (HS Chemistry, Carver MS/HS)	Jesse Drozd (HS Chemistry, WPI Chemistry)
#3 鈥?Good Heath and Well-Being	Engineering Bench-Top Testing of Interventional Devices for Cardiovascular Diseases	Yihao Zheng (Mechanical & Materials Eng., Robotics Eng., Biomedical Eng.)	Deborah Baird (MS Science, Broad Meadows Middle School)	Michael Nixdorf (MS Math, WPI Applied Physics)

WPI Receives National Science Foundation Grant to Address Water Treatment Challenge

jcain — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Xiaowei Teng, James H. Manning Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded a $395,886 grant from the National Science Foundation to study an electrochemical system that could be used to address one of the major challenges in water treatment: the buildup of insoluble mineral deposits. Also known as scaling, this buildup in water treatment pipes and equipment reduces the efficiency and lifespan of treatment systems, much like limescale does in household appliances.

Current methods to mitigate scale formation often generate chemical waste and consume large volumes of water. Through this newly awarded grant, Teng will partner with Professor Heath Turner of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Alabama to study the use of aqueous battery electrodes to selectively remove scale-forming-cations (SFC) found in water. SFCs are positively charged ions in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, strontium, or barium. The goal is to develop an electrode-based system that will enable lower-cost, environmentally friendly water purification solutions to increase access to clean water.

The research will utilize these water-based electrodes, computational modeling, and X-ray imaging of ion transport to generate new insights and novel means of understanding and controlling the transport behavior of SFCs in water and their interaction with the electrode materials. Teng hopes this knowledge will accelerate the development of a system that uses an ion-storage electrode to introduce an electrochemical charge to remove only the most scale-forming cations without obstructing other water treatment methods that effectively purify non-SFCs.

鈥淲e want this system to be a cost-effective supplement to water treatment methods to address mineral buildup鈥?said Teng. 鈥淪ince shutting down parts of water treatment facilities for scale removal is costly and time-consuming, this system seeks to prevent the accumulation of harmful minerals, reduce maintenance costs, and extend the operational lifespan of water treatment equipment.鈥?lt;/span>

Teng expects such technology to surpass the performance and sustainability challenges of current water pretreatment technologies based on chemical approaches. The electrochemical system could have applications for facilities that purify large amounts of water, such as municipal water treatment plants and massive data centers.

This project is supported under the Electrochemical Systems program of the National Science Foundation鈥檚 Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering Program Kicks Off with Fourth Cohort

ablessington — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

On Monday, June 30, the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering program launched its fourth cohort, welcoming eight middle and high school educators. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), RET is a six-week immersive program that provides K鈥?2 teachers with research experiences in engineering, and led by Erin Solovey (PI), Kathy Chen (co-PI) and Donna Taylor. Participants are enhancing their disciplinary knowledge and developing classroom activities and curricula to broaden students鈥?awareness of and engagement with computing and engineering pathways.

(L-R) Demetrios Kennedy, Jesse Drozd, Abigail Prisby, Em Beeler, Tiffini Cornock, Deborah Baird, Michael Nixdorf Jared Quinn

This year鈥檚 cohort includes two recent WPI graduates, Demetrios Kennedy and Michael Nixdorf, who completed the Teacher Preparation Program (TPP), as well as TPP alum 鈥?2, Em Beeler. The educators are mentored by WPI faculty members Scarlet Shell, Adam Powell, Andrew Teixeira, Michael T. Timko, Geoffref Tompsett, and Yihao Zheng .

In addition to their research projects, RET teachers are participating in weekly professional development sessions led by the STEM Education Center. These sessions support the integration of their research experiences into real-world, standards-aligned STEM instruction, all while connecting to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and strengthening partnerships among WPI, K鈥?2 schools, and industry.

2025 RET RESEARCH PROJECTS

Research Project (UN SDG #)	Research Project	WPI Faculty Mentor, Department	Teacher, Licensure, School	Teacher, Licensure, School/Major
#7 鈥?Affordable & Clean Energy	Magnesium Production and Recycling for Clean Energy	Adam Powell (Mechanical & Materials Engineering / Chemical Engineering)	Jared Quinn (Life Sciences, Overlook MS, Ashburnham)	Demetrios Kennedy (HS Chemistry, WPI Chemistry)
#3 鈥?Good Heath and Well-Being	Antibiotic Resistance in Mycobacteria	Scarlet Shell (Biology & Biotechnology)	Abigail Prisby (HS Biology, Groton-Dunstable HS)	Em Beeler (HS Math, Burncoat HS, Worcester)
#13 鈥?Climate Action	Removing PFAS from Contaminated Soils	Andrew Teixeira & Mike Timko (Chemical Engineering)	Tiffini Cornock (HS Chemistry, Carver MS/HS)	Jesse Drozd (HS Chemistry, WPI Chemistry)
#3 鈥?Good Heath and Well-Being	Engineering Bench-Top Testing of Interventional Devices for Cardiovascular Diseases	Yihao Zheng (Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Biomedical Engineering / MME, RBE & BME)	Deborah Baird (MS Broad Meadows Middle School)	Michael Nixdorf (MS Math, WPI Applied Physics)

Mike Timko Named Head of Department of Chemical Engineering

amduffy — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

From WPI Dean of Engineering John McNeill:

It鈥檚 my pleasure to announce that the new head of WPI鈥檚 Department of Chemical Engineering (CHE) is Mike Timko, an accomplished scholar and teacher in fundamental and applied aspects of circular economy, waste utilization, and clean energy. Professor Timko鈥檚 term as department head, which begins July 1, 2025, follows that of Sue Roberts, who has led CHE since 2015.

Dr. Timko earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemical engineering from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, in 1998, and his MS and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2001 and 2004, respectively. He joined WPI in January 2013 as an assistant professor after working as a principal engineer at Aerodyne Research Inc. He also worked previously as a researcher at MIT and as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University. His research areas include developing sustainable chemical processes that convert waste materials鈥攕uch as sewage sludge, food waste, and plastics鈥攊nto renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials, while also addressing environmental contaminants like PFAS through advanced reactor engineering and clean energy technologies. Details can be found at the Energy Research Group and Circular Economy and Data Analytics Engineering Research for Sustainability websites. He is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers and numerous patent applications; the recipient of multiple patents; and the scientific founder of River Otter, a company formed to commercialize some of the technologies invented in his lab.

Dr. Timko has won several accolades, including a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to conduct research on biofuels at the Universit茅 de Bordeaux; a National Science Foundation CAREER award; and a Doctoral New Investigator grant and R.A. Glenn Award from the American Chemical Society. For the American Institute of Chemical Engineers he served as director of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division from 2017 to 2019 and from 2020 to 2023 as director of the Forestry and Plant Bioproducts Division, where he is now serves as the division treasurer.

At WPI, in addition to serving his home department in various capacities and serving on numerous faculty and staff search committees, he has served on the university鈥檚 Committee on Graduate Studies and Research and twice has served on the Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom.

John McNeill

Bernard M. Gordon Dean of Engineering

New Members Inducted to National Engineering Honor Society Tau Beta Pi

amduffy — Thu, 01 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to the newly inducted members of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.

Tau Beta Pi was founded in 1885 to honor academic achievement and outstanding character. WPI鈥檚 Massachusetts Alpha Chapter, the first chapter in New England, was founded in 1910. In addition to the students who were inducted last night, we had the honor of inducting two Eminent Engineers, Professors Andrew Teixeira of Chemical Engineering and Fiona Zoutendyk of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.

Please join us in congratulating their achievement!

Tau Beta Pi. Integrity and Excellence in Engineering.

Justina Amoako, MS, Manufacturing Engineering

Gemma Baldwim 鈥?7, Environmental Engineering

Octavio Bittar 鈥?7, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Courtney Brady 鈥?7, Biomedical Engineering

Allison Califano MS, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Kevin Collins 鈥?7, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Abigail Coolidge 鈥?7, Architectural Engineering

Ethan Curley 鈥?6, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Khang Diep 鈥?7, Robotics Engineering

Ryann Dionne 鈥?5, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Halim Faker 鈥?5, Industrial Engineering

Christopher Ferrarotti 鈥?7, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Samantha Germano, MS, Systems Engineering

Noah Gibbs 鈥?7, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Joshua Gifford 鈥?7, Robotics Engineering

Veronika Gorski, MS, Biomedical Engineering

Jeremy Hudon 鈥?6, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Marshall Ismail, MS, Mechanical Engineering

Amelia Kokernak PhD, Aerospace Engineering

Nicholas Lentino 鈥?7, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Kathryn McDonagh 鈥?7, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Brynn McElligott 鈥?7 Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Collin Mello, MS, Fire Protection Engineering

Everett Mosher 鈥?6, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Sofia Murphy 鈥?7 Robotics Engineering

Sofia Pantano 鈥?7 Chemical Engineering

Fiona Prendergast 鈥?6 Robotics Engineering

Frederick Smith '26, Engineering

Anthony Virone, MS, Robotics Engineering

Maxwell Wiesenfeld 鈥?7 Architectural Engineering

Fan Yang, MS, Mechanical Engineering

Alexandr Zilberleyb 鈥?7, Robotics Engineering

Ed Ma Tribute

troyal — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Ali Rangwala and Stephen Kmiotek Featured in the Dust Safety Science Podcast

djgraves — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Ali Rangwala, Professor in Fire Protection Engineering, and Stephen Kmiotek, Professor of Practice in Chemical Engineering, were recently featured in the Dust Safety Science podcast, introducing WPI鈥檚 new Master of Science in Explosion Protection Engineering (XPE). Listen to the Dust Safety Science podcast episode.

You can learn more about XPE and also apply online at: /academics/study/master-science-explosion-protection-engineering

Contributions to Systems Science and Engineering by Prof. Kazantzis Are Taught at Harvard

troyal — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The accurate reconstruction of the state (and the reliable characterization of the dynamic behavior) of a complex process system assumes central importance in the fields of systems science and engineering. In particular, the design of advanced process system performance monitoring and automatic control strategies, as well as chemical risk assessment/management protocols and environmental regulatory policy development depend on this scientific endeavor. For such a task, a powerful tool known as state observer is appropriately designed and digitally implemented with the aid of a computer code, offering an accurate reconstruction of performance-critical variable profiles. A method developed by Prof. Kazantzis and collaborators, led to a rigorous development of a nonlinear analogue of the well-known Luenberger observer in linear systems theory, and in particular, an insightful design template of a nonlinear state observer capable of reliably reconstructing the state of a dynamical system in the presence of irreducible nonlinearities. It should be pointed out that the conventional 鈥渓inear approximation approach鈥?exhibits limited validity and often leads to unsatisfactory process performance monitoring and/or control strategies. The novel nonlinear state observer design method (currently recognized as the Kazantzis-Kravaris-Luenberger (KKL)-observer in the nonlinear systems literature) has been recently integrated into various machine-learning algorithmic frameworks through the creative efforts of numerous other research groups around the world. It has been also recently incorporated into a textbook and a set of notes developed by Prof. H. Yang for a graduate course entitled: 鈥淥ptimal Control and Estimation鈥?offered at the J. A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Harvard University:

https://hankyang.seas.harvard.edu/OptimalControlEstimation/output-feedback.html#kazantzis-kravaris-luenberger-kkl-template

NSF Awards $259,570 to Christina Bailey-Hytholt to Develop New Models to Study Preeclampsia

leckelbecker — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Christina Bailey-Hytholt

Christina Bailey-Hytholt, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded $259,570 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program for a two-year project that will engineer 3D placental trophoblast models to help study preeclampsia, a pregnancy-related complication.

Preeclampsia affects 5 percent to 7 percent of all pregnancies and is responsible for a significant number of preterm births each year. The condition occurs because of underlying issues in the placenta, a temporary organ that develops during pregnancy.

Considered the 鈥渟uperhero of pregnancy,鈥?the placenta plays numerous roles throughout pregnancy and impacts the lifelong health of women and infants. Cells that make up the placenta attach and embed themselves into the uterine lining during pregnancy, but complications from this process can lead to preeclampsia and other conditions.

Finding solutions to placental complications is challenging because the organ is not well understood. Bailey-Hytholt鈥檚 research will address that problem by developing 3D models that use placental cells to investigate differences in cell behavior due to preeclampsia.

Bailey-Hytholt joined the WPI faculty in 2022, and her research seeks to address critical unmet needs for women鈥檚 health. She recently was awarded $502,999 from the NSF鈥檚 Building Research Capacity of New Faculty in Biology program for a three-year project that will focus on the relationship between placental cells known as trophoblasts and the structures they secrete, called exosomes, that are important in a mother鈥檚 immune regulation and implantation of an embryo. She is the recent recipient of honors including being named a Forbes 30 under 30 in Science (2022), Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare in Massachusetts (2023), and American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 35 under 35. Her work also has been supported by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the Amnion Foundation.

NSF Award for Christina Bailey-Hytholt

troyal — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Christina Bailey-Hytholt

Christina Bailey-Hytholt, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded $502,999 from the NSF鈥檚 Building Research Capacity of New Faculty in Biology program. Bailey-Hytholt鈥檚 three-year project will focus on the relationship between placental cells known as trophoblasts and the structures they secrete, called exosomes, that are important in a mother鈥檚 immune regulation and implantation of an embryo. The project reflects her concentration on research that addresses critical unmet needs for women鈥檚 health. Bailey-Hytholt received a BS in chemical engineering from WPI, earned her PhD at Brown University, and joined the WPI faculty in 2022. Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 Class of innovators in 2022, and her research has been supported by the NSF, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and the Amnion Foundation.

鈥淯nlocking High Capacity and Reversible Alkaline Iron Redox Using Silicate-Sodium Hydroxide Hybrid Electrolytes鈥?

troyal — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0000

WPI researchers unlock the silicate magic for safer, cheaper, and more efficient iron alkaline batteries

The world is transitioning rapidly to renewable power. As solar power falls at night and wind Apower recedes and ascends irregularly, new technologies are needed to store power for the electric grid when too much electrical energy is produced for later energy consumption. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have played a crucial role in everyday life, powering devices from smartphones to electric vehicles. However, the large-scale implementation of lithium-ion batteries in the electric grid has raised concerns over sustainability and cost due to their reliance on limited resources like lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Researchers continue searching for battery systems better suited for electric grids.

Xiaowei Teng, the James H Manning Professor in Chemical Engineering, is leading a team to explore new battery technologies for grid energy storage: their recent results suggest that iron could create a high-performance alkaline battery anode. Iron is the second most abundant metal in the Earth鈥檚 crust after aluminum and is far more sustainable than nickel and cobalt. The United States alone recycles approximately over 40 million metric tons of iron and steel from scrap each year.

Iron is already used as an alkaline battery anode in iron-nickel alkaline batteries invented by Thomas Edison in the 1900s, but it has low energy efficiency and storage capacity due to the formation of hydrogen gas during charge and inert iron oxide species during discharge. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want hydrogen gas formation when charging a battery,鈥?said Teng. 鈥淚t impairs the energy efficiency of the battery system considerably because the electrical energy should be used to electrochemically reduce iron electrode materials instead of water in the electrolyte. Without addressing these technical challenges, iron alkaline batteries are less competitive for modern energy storage systems to be coupled with electric grids.鈥?lt;/p>

鈥淲e are developing a new strategy to revitalize iron battery chemistry,鈥?said Teng, the corresponding author of a study detailing this work in ChemSusChem with a journal cover highlight. Sathya Jagadeesan, the lead author of this study who recently completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from WPI, identified a new redox pathway involving one-charge transfer between Fe(OH)2 and FeOOH without generating hydrogen gas.

The key to success was the silicate, an electrolyte additive. Silicate, a chemical compound of silicon and oxygen, has long been used as an inexpensive and simple agent in glass, cement, insulation, and detergents. The team found silicate is also efficient as a battery electrolyte additive, strongly interacts with electrodes, and strengthens hydrogen-bond networks in electrolytes, eventually suppressing hydrogen gas generation and promoting iron redox.

As this work evolves, the hope is that this new iron anode chemistry could improve the alkaline iron-air batteries for stationary energy storage applications, such as microgrids or individual solar or wind farms.

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Reference: 鈥?lt;em>Unlocking High Capacity and Reversible Alkaline Iron Redox Using Silicate-Sodium Hydroxide Hybrid Electrolytes鈥?by Sathya Narayanan Jagadeesan, Fenghua Guo, Ranga Teja Pidathala, A. M. Milinda Abeykoon, Gihan Kwon, Daniel Olds, Badri Narayanan, and Xiaowei Teng, October 7 2024, ChemSusChem
https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202400050

Mike Timko Appointed Associate Dean of Engineering for Research, ad interim

amduffy — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Dear WPI Community,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Chemical Engineering Professor Mike Timko as Associate Dean of Engineering for Research, ad interim. The broad focus of this position will be on advancing impactful, new approaches to research development going beyond general support of faculty efforts. Specific examples include:

Bringing together diverse groups of faculty to pursue large-scale funding; especially identifying and creating new opportunities for cross-department and cross-school collaborations
Piloting mechanisms for catalyzing new efforts in creative ideation toward future research directions
Collaborating with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research to develop new initiatives and take advantage of internal initiatives
Expanding and strengthening industry connection
Considering new models for career paths available to research faculty.

Mike鈥檚 work exemplifies the world-changing impact of WPI鈥檚 purpose-driven research in areas such as renewable energy, recycling, waste-to-fuel, climate tech, and sustainability. He has already been working with other faculty to increase their effectiveness in pursuing larger-scale research grants and will be able to expand this role in the ADR position. Mike鈥檚 presence in the engineering community is already widely known; this position will open opportunities for further visibility (such as ASEE鈥檚 Research Leadership Institute) to continue elevating the reputation of the School of Engineering and WPI.

As this is a 25% position, and governance is currently revising the process for administrative searches, this appointment is initially on an interim basis.

Please join me in congratulating Professor Timko!

John McNeill

Bernard M. Gordon Dean, WPI School of Engineering

Save the Date: Aug. 9 Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Poster Symposium on UN SDGs

tadams — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

A cohort of 11 middle and high school teachers in the local area will be presenting their summer research work in WPI faculty labs at the RET poster session on Friday, August 9, 10:30-11:30am in Higgins House. The research projects address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and serve as the inspiration for integrated STEM lesson plans to be used in K-12 classrooms.

All are welcome to attend this event, which will include coffee break beverages and treats!

Four WPI undergraduates in the Teacher Preparation Program are part of the RET teacher cohort and have received extra mentoring from the in-service teachers. Faculty mentors include Erin Solovey, Ulkuhan Guler, Pratap M. Rao, Jagan Srinivasan, Yihao Zheng, Ron Grimm, Scarlet Shell, and Andrew Teixeira. In addition to the research experience, the RET teachers participated in weekly professional development sessions led by the STEM Education Center.

2024 RET RESEARCH PROJECTS WPI faculty/staff leading RET

UN Sustainable Development Goal

Research Project

Faculty Mentor

Pre-Service Teacher Participant

In-Service Teacher Participant

#3 鈥?Good Health & Well-Being

Engineering Bench-Top Testing of Interventional Devices for Cardiovascular Diseases

Yihao Zheng
(Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Biomedical Engineering / MME, RBE & BME)

Sam Simmons
(WPI Management Information Systems / MS Math)

Jayne Kerner
(F.A. Day MS / Newton MS Science)

#11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Bioinspired Harvesting Calcium from Water for Cement and Concrete

Ron Grimm
(Chemistry & Biochemistry / CBC)

Allison Morin
(WPI Chemistry / HS Chemistry)

Stephanie Korunow
(South HS / Worcester HS Chemistry)

#3 鈥?Good Health & Well-Being

Genetically Engineering a Plasmid to Develop a Live-Dead Reporter System in Mycolicibacterium smegmatis

Scarlet Shell
(Biology & Biotechnology / BBT)

Abigail Prisby
(Groton-Dunstable HS / HS Biology )

#3 鈥?Good Health & Well-Being

Using Microscopic Worms to Understand Health-Associated Issues

Jagan Srinivasan
(Biology & Biotechnology / BBT)

Rebecca Cooke
(Douglas HS / HS Biology)

#12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

Waste-to-Energy: Engineering Feedstocks for a Circular Economy

Andrew Teixeira
(Chemical Engineering / CHE)

Demetrios Kennedy
(WPI Chemistry / HS Chemistry)

Jay Turner
(South HS / Worcester HS Chemistry)

#3 鈥?Good Health & Well-Being

Development of Miniaturized Noninvasive Blood Gas Monitors

Ulkuhan Guler
(Electrical & Computer Engineering / ECE)

Genesis Bernabel
(WPI Electrical Engineering / HS Physics)

James Sheehan
(Leominster HS / HS Physics)

#7 鈥?Affordable & Clean Energy

Photocatalysts for Clean Energy and Environment

Pratap M. Rao
(Mechanical & Materials Engineering / MME)

Meredith Leighton
(Raynham MS / MS Science)

Chemical Engineering Researchers Analyze Technology for Polystyrene Recycling

troyal — Wed, 22 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

A team of researchers from WPI鈥檚 Department of Chemical Engineering and the University of Bath in the UK has analyzed a simple, scalable technology that has the potential to recycle up to 60% of the polystyrene used today, compared with less than 5% that is possible with current technology. Polystyrene that isn鈥檛 recycled ends up in landfills or worse 鈥?in our oceans, rivers, and beaches where it sheds microplastics for decades.

Polystyrene has properties that make it nearly impossible to replace 鈥?it is a low-cost, impact resistant insulator that is perfect for shipping fragile parts and packaging food. These properties arise from polystyrene鈥檚 structure. Unfortunately, polystyrene鈥檚 structure also makes it difficult to recycle, as traditional mechanical recycling leads to loss of molecular weight and deterioration of the properties that make polystyrene so valuable. Now, the team of researchers has analyzed a system that can potentially solve these problems. The team outlines its findings in a paper titled Thermodynamic and economic analysis of a deployable and scalable process to recover Monomer-Grade styrene from waste polystyrene which was recently published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

The core technology that the team analyzed is pyrolysis, a method that involves heating in the absence of air until the bonds of a molecule break apart. Polystyrene conveniently breaks primarily into a chemical called the monomer, that is the simplest unit that comprises the parent polymer. This has been known for decades and it opens the window for using pyrolysis to recover monomer followed by repolymerization to produce 鈥済ood as new鈥?polystyrene. However, monomer purity after pyrolysis is insufficient for repolymerization. And that was that, until the Bath-WPI team came along and analyzed a multi-step process to convert polystyrene into its monomer and then use distillation to purify the monomer.

This multi-step process consists entirely of scalable technologies that are among the most reliable ones currently used in chemical processing. This means that the entire process should be readily deployable, whereas processes that require new, unproven technologies might require years 鈥?if they can ever be deployed at scale.

The challenges are energy use and economics, which is where the team focused its efforts. Interestingly, the energy requirements for the entire process are much less than the value contained in the chemical bonds of polystyrene, meaning that the process is energy efficient. Moreover, multiple pathways exist for styrene production at costs that are competitive with global historical averages over the past several years. That means that 鈥済ood as new鈥?post-consumer polystyrene is not just an idea in the lab. To complete the analysis, the team considered greenhouse gas emissions. Technologies such as pyrolysis and distillation have faced criticism in recent years because of their association with greenhouse gas emissions. However, the research team found that the new process can reduce greenhouse gas emissions relative to polymer combustion at an investment cost of about $1.5/ton of CO2, comparable to costs associated with steps usually considered 鈥渓ow hanging fruit鈥? like installing energy efficient light bulbs.

The researchers concluded that not only does the new process consist of scalable, proven technologies, it is realistic in terms of economics and energy use, and a net savings of emissions relative to combustion 鈥?all good things to keep polystyrene out of our water, out of our food, and ultimately out of our bodies. Continuing work is focused on improving the polystyrene process by including additional steps for obtaining more products, scenarios for mixed plastic waste streams, and developing new, and even more efficient technologies for plastic recycling. WPI鈥檚 role in this study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

The research team consists of:

University of Bath

Bernardo Castro-Dominguez, senior lecturer in chemical engineering

WPI Department of Chemical Engineering

Professors Michael Timko and Nikolaos Kazantzis
Elizabeth Belden, PhD 鈥?4
Madison Reed, PhD student

Learn more about the research in this press release from the University of Bath.

WPI Researchers Publish Study on Mixed Reality in Industrial Workforce Training

jcain — Tue, 21 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

May 21, 2024

In a cross-disciplinary study recently published in the Journal of Chemical Education and featured on the May issue鈥檚 front cover, a team of WPI researchers from the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, and the Interactive Media and Game Development program developed a mixed-reality program to introduce flow chemistry tools to undergraduate students. The study is titled 鈥淔lowAR: A Mixed Reality Program to Introduce Continuous Flow Concepts.鈥?amp;nbsp;

Flow chemistry is an approach whereby chemical reactions occur in smaller volumes while flowing through a reactor when compared to the traditional approach of batch chemical reactions. Flow chemistry has a multitude of benefits including safety, investment savings, and green processing.

This study, led by Professor Robert Dempski, focused on comparing whether users could more readily assemble a continuous flow reactor using written instructions versus an Augmented Reality (AR)-based program, named FlowAR. The results showed that students who used FlowAR reported having a better training experience and enjoyed assembling the reactor more than students who used a traditional approach. This work shows that complex manual assembly of instrumentation can be more readily accomplished with a well-designed AR-based program. This is an exciting development to help train the workforce of the future.

Authors of the study include Lane Harrison, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science; Andrew Teixeira, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering; No毛lle Rakotondravony, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science; Max Chen, a PhD student in the Interactive Media and Game Development Program; Yichen (Claire) Li, a PhD student in the Interactive Media and Game Development Program; and Hilson Shrestha, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science.

Dean Camesano Chairs Session, Presents Talk at Thesinge Biofilms Meeting

dabaron — Wed, 15 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Dean Terri Camesano attended the 9th Thesinge Biofilms Meeting on Biomaterial-associated Infections from May 13-14, 2024, in the village of Thesinge, the Netherlands. In addition to serving as a session chair, she presented a talk titled 鈥淢echanisms of antimicrobial peptide and antibiotic interactions on membrane permeabilization and deactivation of Escherichia coli鈥?

Terri Camesano, Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies

The purpose of this meeting was to bring together an international community of experts to discuss the current state of the art and the vision for a future where we can eliminate infections on biomaterials. This work has applications to infection control for a wide variety of implanted biomedical devices, including urinary and central venous catheters, contact lenses, orthopedic implants, feeding tubes, and more.

WPI鈥檚 Massachusetts Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi Initiates Nearly 50 New Members

amduffy — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

New Members of Tau Beta Pi

WPI鈥檚 Massachusetts Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi recently initiated 47 new students鈥攁nd two Eminent Engineers鈥攊nto the honor society.

Tau Beta Pi is the only engineering honor society representing the entire engineering profession. It is the nation's second-oldest honor society, founded at Lehigh University in 1885 to mark, in a fitting manner, those who have conferred honor upon their alma mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as students in engineering or by their attainments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges. There are now collegiate chapters at 255 US colleges and universities and 50 active alumni chapters.

WPI鈥檚 Massachusetts Alpha Chapter was established in 1910 and is the oldest honor society on campus. It recognizes junior engineering students who are in the top 12.5% of their class, senior engineering students who are in the 20% of their class, and distinguished engineering graduate students, alumni, and engineers who are eminent in their field.

New members include Rick Brown, Professor and Department Head of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Sarah Wodin-Schwarz, Associate Professor of Teaching and Associate Department Head of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, along with the following students, listed by class and major:

Class of 2024

Priyankha Sunil, BME
Adrianna Louise Tagayun, CHE
Natalie Gonthier, ME
Rowan Mattox, ME (Masters)
Nikita Igoshin, ME
Keelan Smith, ME
Stephanie Steriti, ME
Oleg Russu, RBE (Masters)
Rene Verduzco, RBE (Masters)

Class of 2025

Priyal Anand, BME
Ketterra Johnson, BME
Geethika Chandragiri, CE
Stephanie Dean, CE
Lucas Anthony, CHE
Adelyn Fisher, CHE
Rachel Gealow, CHE
Roberto Sabater, ECE
Adam Spencer, ECE
Melissa Hasbrouck, ME
Nicholas Healy, ME
Kathryn Juliuson, ME
Olivia Dunn, MGE
Amy Conley, RBE
Nikesh Walling, RBE
Cole Welcher, RBE

Class of 2026

Emily Herrera, AE
Catalina Mudgett, AE
Colby O鈥機onnell, AE
Ryan Smith, AE
Bailey Allmon, BME
Delina Chavez, BME
Benjamin Petrich, BME
Aidan Flanagan, CE
Alexander Sheehey, CE
Andrea Wu, CE
Victoria Escuer, IE
Grace Henderson, ME
Cullen Jacene, ME
Griffin Melia, ME
Galen Miller, ME
Alana Moretti, ME
Jack Shanks, ME
Nikhil Gangaram, RBE
Pranav Jain, RBE
Christian Piper, RBE

Class of 2029

Daniel McArthur Sehar, MME, PhD
Celso do Cabo, ME, PhD

Tau Beta Pi. Integrity and Excellence in Engineering.

Congratulations to ChE MQP team who won the 16th Annual Sustainability Project Showcase!

cmbailey — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to Chemical Engineering seniors, Faith, Jia, and Alex, who won the 16th Annual Sustainability Project Showcase at WPI on April 12th! Their project studies ways to decarbonize industrial wastewater treatment. Great job, team!

Congratulations to ChE faculty recognized during the 2023 Trustees' Celebration of Faculty Achievement

cmbailey — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to Chemical Engineering faculty who were recognized during the Trustees' Celebration of Faculty Achievement, which recognizes 2023 achievements:

Laila Abu-Lail was awarded an EMPowER Grant from the Women's Impact Network (WIN) to create more inclusive and empowering STEM courses.

Christina Bailey-Hytholt received the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 35 under 35 Award, the Women's Edge Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Award, and the Amnion Foundation Seed Grant.

Nikolaos Kazantzis was awarded funding from the Department of Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, to harvest energy from waste water by converting sewage sludge to natural gas. He also published two energy policy analysis papers/reports for the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Energy Policy Research Group at University of Cambridge, two of the world's leading and most influential energy policy think-tanks.

Stephen Kmiotek received the Trustee's Award for Outstanding Academic Advising.

Susan Roberts was awarded funding from SaponiQx to create a robust plant suspension system for the production of vaccine adjuvants.

Elizabeth Stewart was awarded an NSF Engineering Research Initiation Award to engineer a biofilm infection-on-a-chip to elucidate the host-biofilm interface.

Andrew Teixeira earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor. He was awarded funding from WPI-Honeywell Clean Energy Center Phase I, the DOE BETO DE-FOA-0002636 to remove physical and chemical bottlenecks for hydrothermal waste-to-energy through intensified conditioning of blended high solid waste slurries, and ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable to overcome light penetration challenges in photochemical reactions through a micro-LED packed bed reactor.

Xiaowei Teng was recognized as the James Manning Endowed Chair. He was awarded funding from the NSF on selective extraction of lithium from seawater using structurally modified metal oxide layered materials. He published work "Enhanced Urea Oxidation Electrocatalytic Activity by Synergistic Cobalt and Nickel Mixed Oxides" in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters and "Chloride Insertion Enhances the Electrochemical Oxidation of Iron Hydroxide Double-Layer Hydroxide into Oxyhydroxide in Alkaline Iron Batteries" in Chemistry of Materials.

Michael Timko and Geoffrey Tompsett had two patents issued in 2023: "Water-Assisted Zeolite Upgrading Of Oils" and "Ethanol Derived Petrochemicals."

Eric Young was awarded funding from DARPA CERES, "IRISS." He was recognized for his leadership role in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Division 15 Executive Committee and for his published work "Systematic part transfer by extending a modular toolkit to diverse bacteria" in ACS Synthetic Biology.

A complete list of recognitions can be found here.

(L to R): Prof. Eric Young, Dean John McNeill, Prof. Steve Kmiotek, and Prof. Andrew Teixeira at the Trustees' Celebration of Faculty Achievement.

IGNITING INNOVATION: Compete For Your Share of $20K in the JAM!

jmzafiris — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center

in partnership with Fire Protection Engineering

Presents

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN!

馃敟 Calling all students! 馃敟

Ready to ignite your ideas and compete for your share of $20K in cash prizes? 馃挵

Calling all WPI students from all majors to submit an application and compete for a share of $20,000 in prize money. Five teams will be selected to participate in the jam.

1st place: $7,500 2nd place: $5,000 3rd place: $2,500

Top 5 applicant teams: $1,000 each if the team participates in all jam sessions and final pitch

The Challenge: Develop innovative solutions that address the most pressing GRAND CHALLENGES related to fire to make our world safer! Below are examples of interdisciplinary areas that focus, but are not limited to, these topics:

Ariel Surveillance Mavericks: Master drones, satellite imaging, and smart sensors for early fire detection
EV Revolution: Engineer the future of electric vehicles 鈥?think battery safety, vehicle design, crash innovations, and explosion defense
Urban Planning Architects: Design structures and communities that defy wildfire odds, turning urban planning into a force for resilience
Building Blaze Busters: Create fire-safe havens through innovative building designs, evacuation strategies, and groundbreaking materials
Virtual Reality Pioneers: Dive into the future of firefighter coordination
Cyber Sentinel Innovators: Safeguard firefighting systems in uncharted territories with cyber-secure innovations

For ideas, check out this great resource of white papers on GRAND CHALLENGE related to fire.

MQP, GQP, IQP, and ISP fire-related projects are welcome to apply.

Application Process

February 20: Deadline for Intent to Compete APPLY HERE (1 minute to complete)
February 22: 6:30-8:00pm Attend Introductory NABC Value Proposition & AI Tutor Workshop Zoom Link
March 5: Deadline to submit your NABC Value Proposition. Email it to Janet Zafiris at jmzafiris@wpi.edu
March 8: Top 5 teams announced

Jam Sessions (all virtual sessions are from 6:30-8:00 pm)

Thursday, March 14: 1.5 hours forum (session will be recorded)
Thursday, March 21: 1.5 hours forum
Thursday, March 28: 1.5 hours forum

Final Pitches and Celebration (in-person)

Thursday, April 4: Final Presentations & Award Ceremony (presentations will be recorded)

Igniting Innovation is made possible through the generosity of Marjorie and Duane Pearsall and the Duane D. Pearsall Endowment

Do you have any questions about the application or challenge?

Please contact Curtis Abel at caabel@wpi.edu or Janet Zafiris at jmzafiris@wpi.edu.

Efficiently Moving Urea Out of Polluted Water Is Coming to Reality 鈥?WPI Researchers Unlock Secret to Upcycling Organic Compound

sfoskett — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 12:00:00 +0000

WPI Researchers have developed a material to remove urea from water and potentially convert it into hydrogen gas. By building these materials of nickel and cobalt atoms with carefully tailored electronic structures, the group has unlocked the potential to enable these transition metal oxides and hydroxides to selectively oxidize urea in an electrochemical reaction.

The study, led by Xiaowei Teng, the James H. Manning professor of Chemical Engineering at WPI, was recently published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters and highlighted in the publication鈥檚 supplementary front cover.

The Challenge of Removing Urea from Water

Urea is a low-cost nitrogen agriculture fertilizer and a natural product from human metabolism. Urea-rich agricultural runoff and municipal wastewater discharge cause eutrophication鈥揾armful algal blooms and hypoxic dead zones that adversely impact the aquatic environment and human health.

At the same time, the unique characteristics of urea make it a potential hydrogen storage medium that could offer viable on-demand hydrogen production. For instance, urea is non-toxic, has high water solubility, and has high hydrogen content (6.7% by weight). Thus, urea electrolysis for hydrogen production is more energy-efficient and economical than water electrolysis.

The weakness of urea electrolysis has always been the lack of low-cost and highly efficient electrocatalysts that selectively oxidize urea instead of water, but Teng and his team have found a solution: making electrocatalysts consisting of synergistically interacted nickel and cobalt atoms with unique electronic structures for selective urea electro-oxidation.

Unlocking Enhanced Selectivity and Activity

The WPI team鈥檚 study centered on homogeneous nickel and cobalt oxides and hydroxides. Researchers found that the key to enhancing its electrochemical activity and selectivity to urea oxidation lay in tailoring the unique electronic structures with dominant Ni2+ and Co3+ species.

鈥淭his electronic configuration is a pivotal factor to improve the selectivity of urea oxidation because we observe that higher nickel valence, such as Ni3+, indeed helps produce a fast reaction with strong electric current output; however, a large portion of current was from unwanted water oxidation,鈥?Teng said.

To better understand this effect, Teng鈥檚 group collaborated with Aaron Deskins, a professor of chemical engineering at WPI. Deskins performed the computational simulations and found that homogenous mixing of nickel and cobalt oxides and hydroxides benefited the electron redistribution from Ni2+ to Co3+ species and shifting valence electrons to higher energy so the Ni/Co catalysts were better prepared to participate in bonding with urea and water molecules.

Professor Kazantzis and collaborators publish energy policy analysis papers for two leading energy policy think-tanks

cmbailey — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:00:00 +0000

In collaboration with research groups at the Center on Global Energy Policy, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research as well as the Energy Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge, Professor Kazantzis published the following two energy policy analysis papers:

1) K. Chyong, E. Italiani and N. Kazantzis, 2023, Implications of Inflation Reduction Act for Deployment of Low Carbon Ammonia Technologies, 2023 Working Paper Series, MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. View the paper here.

2) D. Webbe-Wood, W. Nuttall, N. Kazantzis and K. Chyong, 2023, The Options Value of Blue Hydrogen in a Low Carbon Energy System, 2023 Working Paper Series in Energy Policy and Economics (EPRG), University of Cambridge. View the paper here.

Both the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Energy Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge are two of the world's leading and most influential energy policy think-tanks.

WPI colleagues celebrate the ten 2023 Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare in Massachusetts, including recipient Professor Christina Bailey-Hytholt

cmbailey — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Photo left to right: Bogdan Vernescu, Elizabeth Stewart, Christina Bailey-Hytholt, Sue Roberts, Susan Zhou, Ellen Piccioli

We had a wonderful evening at the Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare awards reception. Thank you to The Women鈥檚 Edge and congratulations to all recipients. Read more about the award, Professor Christina Bailey-Hytholt, and fellow recipients here.

Congratulations to Chemical Engineering students on their induction into the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program!

cmbailey — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to three Chemical Engineering students, Joelis Velez Diaz 鈥?4, Chauncey Michael 鈥?6, and Michael Zamora 鈥?6, who have recently been inducted into the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program for their achievements and their commitment to excellence in STEM education.