Course/Faculty
Profile
• Construction and Operation of a Fuel Cell
•
Energy
Transfer
•
Bio-materials: Joints/Tissues
•
Fiber Optics and Basic Digital and Analog Circuits
•
Explorations in Polymer Science
•
Global Warming and Dimming Effects
•
Mathematical Optimization and Game Theory
School of Engineering
DaVinci Project Director
Kevin J. McLaughlin
University of Connecticut, Unit 3187
Storrs, CT 06269-3187
Phone: (860) 486-5536
Fax: (860) 486-3045
E-mail: kjm@engr.uconn.edu
Department of Chemical Engineering [top]
Dr. Alla Smirnova
Fuel Cells, Renewable Energy, and the "Hydrogen Economy"
You will build and keep your own fuel cell (not a kit)
that runs on water! Learn the physics and chemistry of this fascinating “new”
(1839) technology and where it’s presently used as well as its’ future.
About the instructor:
Dr. Alevtina Smirnova joined the Department of
Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Connecticut as a Research
Assistant Professor in 2004. Previously, she taught for 10-years at the St.
Petersburg State University, known as the oldest and top ranked university in
Russia. As a faculty member, she managed a number of multidisciplinary programs
that were partnered with universities and industry in Germany, Spain, and
Finland. The focus was on the development and application of different types of
chemical sensors.
Alevtina(Alla) Smirnova obtained both her master’s and doctoral degrees from the
St. Petersburg State University, where in 1997 she received the Soros Academic
Award. Received in 1999 from the Academic Committee/Senate of St. Petersburg
University, it is the highest award given to a faculty member. They recognized
her achievements in the area of Novel Generation Chemical Sensors based on
neutral carriers and ion exchanges.
Dr. Smirnova’s research interests are focused, but are not limited to:
- Ceramic and composite materials for solid
oxide fuel cell (SOFCs), gas sensors, and gas separation membranes,
including materials with oxygen ion and protonconductivity.
- Polymer materials for proton conducting (PC),
direct methanol (DM), and biofuel cells.
- Catalysts and supporting materials for SOFC,
DMFC, and PEMFC.
- Interconnect materials for high temperature
fuel cells.
- Modeling of SOFC, DMFC, and PEMFC performance.
Dr. Smirnova holds 4 patents and is the author of
over 80 publications. She is a member of the Materials Research Society (MRS),
the Electrochemical Society and an editor of the ASME and Elsevier journals.
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering [top]
Dr. Richard Parnas
Bio Fuels
A hands-on workshop where participants make biodiesel fuel while learning to operate a pilot plant scale batch chemical reactor. The fuel is tested to ensure it meets ASTM standards. Learn about the biofuels industry, its future and the chemistry involved it this process.
About Dr. Richard Parnas:
Associate Professor & Director, Chemical Engineering Program
Ph.D. UCLA
Research Interest: Sensors for Nanomaterials and Interfaces
Current
methods for characterizing nanostructures are typically destructive
or applicable to thin films exposed on one side. Molecular probes
encased in nanoparticles permit nondestructive measurement of several
properties via fluorescence.
Research Interest: 3D Imaging
The 3D structure of
heterogeneous materials is often complex, and leads to complex
relationships between the structure and properties. For example,
X-ray micro CT illustrates how well ordered 2D textiles develop
disordered 3D structures in a composite material.
Research Interest: Flow in Porous Media
The disordered and
irreproducible microstructures seen in the center image can lead to
broad distributions in macroscopic properties, as illustrated in the
distribution of permeability shown in the upper right image. The
permeability is a critical processing parameter in composite
manufacturing operations such as liquid molding and pultrusion.
Research Interest: New Feedstocks for the Commodity Plastics Market
New plastics
are being developed from plant protein, a renewable and biodegradable
resource. Small quantities of designed molecules are added to the
protein to improve the toughness by an order of magnitude without
decreasing stiffness. The current challenge is stabilizing the
properties of the protein based plastic.
Department of Electrical and
Computer Science Engineering [top]
Dr. Peter Luh and Dr. Laurent Michel
Mathematical Optimization and Game Theory
We will investigate several accessible problems in
discrete mathematics with an eye for those that can be stated simply, have
elegant simple solutions and are likely to spark the interest of a secondary
school audience.
About Dr. Peter Luh:
Education:
B.S., Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, 1973
M.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1977
Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, Harvard University, 1980
Research Interests:
Planning, scheduling, and coordination of design, manufacturing and service
activities, schedule and bid optimization and load/price forecasting for power
systems, decision making under uncertain, fuzzy, or distributed environments,
mathematical optimization for large-scale systems, engineering and
socio-economic applications.
Over the past decade, we have been working on manufacturing systems research.
Collaborating extensively with industry, our Laboratory developed a near-optimal
and computationally efficient approach for the planning, scheduling, and
coordination of design, manufacturing, and service activities to improve on-time
delivery performance and inventory measures. Our Manufacturing Systems
Laboratory extends to the facilities of Cannondale bicycles, Toshiba
gas-insulate switchgears, Sikorsky helicopters, Pratt & Whitney engines, Delta
engine/generator components, J. M. Products, etc., for developing advanced
planning and scheduling methodologies. Current efforts include condition-based
maintenance, inventory management, 6-sigma delivery, and supply chain
coordination.
We have also been working on power systems related research. Collaborating with
Northeast Utilities, our Laboratory designed and implemented a near-optimal
approach for unit commitment, economic dispatch, hydro-thermal coordination, and
purchase and sale of power to minimize the total electricity generation cost.
Working with Select Energy (a division of Northeast Utilities) and Southern
California Edison, current efforts extend to the prediction of electricity load
and prices, developing optimization-based auction methods and bidding
strategies, and portfolio management.
About Dr. Laurent Michel:
Brief Bio:
Laurent received a B.S. and an Sc.M. in Computer Science from "Les Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix" ('93) in Namur, Belgium. He later received an Sc.M. ('96) and Ph.D. ('99) degrees in Computer Science from Brown University.
After spending one year in industry and 2 years at Brown University as Visiting Assistant Professor, he joined the department in 2002 as Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. His research interests focus on the design and implementation of domain specific languages for combinatorial optimization. Laurent's interests also span programming languages, constraint programming, artificial intelligence, non-linear programming and reasoning under uncertainty. Over the last 7 years, he developed several influential systems including Newton, Numerica, The Optimization Programming Language OPL, the constrained-based library Modeler++ and the local search tools Localizer and Localizer++ and Comet.
His work has been published in a few dozen technical papers in major journals and conferences. He also co-authored two books (MIT Press) related to constraint Programming.
Research Interests:
Combinatorial Optimization, Local Search, Constrant Programming, Modeling and Programming Languages.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering [top]
Dr. Teresa Hennessey
Bio-materials: Joints/Tissues
You will create and test your own synthetic bonelike
material. Investigate biomedical and materials engineering, the fastest growing
field in engineering today, and it’s many connections to chemistry, biology and
physics curriculum.
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering [top]
Dr. Eric Donkor
Fiber Optics and Basic Digital and Analog Circuits
You will investigate digital wired and wireless
communication. Participants will construct and keep a kit-based fiber optics
communication link for voice transmission.
About the instructor:
Dr. Eric Donkor is an Associate Professor of Electrical
& Computer Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He holds Ph.D.
and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut
and Boston University, respectively, and a B.S. in physics from the University
of Cape Coast, Ghana.
His research interests are in optical devices for signal
processing and communication application. Some of his recent activities include
the design and implementation of optical switches for high-speed optical networks,
optical sub-carrier frequency generation, high-speed optical analog-to-digital
converters, and experimental quantum computing.
He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical &
Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the International Society for Optical
Engineering (SPIE), and a life member of Sigma Xi.
Department of Materials and Chemical Engineering [top]
Dr. Lei Zhu
Explorations
in polymer science
Investigate the advanced polymer technology used in
liquid crystal displays (LCD). Teachers will build and keep a prototype display
device that can be used in classroom demonstrations.
About the instructor:
Research
Interest: Nano-confined Polymers using Block Copolymer as Templates
Crystalline block copolymers are utilized as templates to investigate
nanoconfinement effects on polymer phase transitions in the bulk and at
surfaces.
Research Interest: Block Copolymer/Inorganic
Nanocomposites
Natural and organo-modified clay nanoparticles are incorporated into diblock
copolymer systems with one of the block strongly interacting with the
nanoparticles.
Research Interest: Characterization of Polymer
Membranes in PEM Fuel Cells
Proton exchange membranes (PEM) at high temperature and low humidity conditions
are characterized by TEM, SEM, and X-ray analysis.
Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering [top]
Dr. Amvrossios Bagtzoglou and Dr. Guiling Wang
Global Warming & Dimming Effects
Explore the fundamental physics and chemistry of CO2 , CH4, and hydrocarbon emissions. Examine data from earth’s geologic past and relate them to recent changes in the earth’s climate. Learn about the myth’s and realities behind numerical models and their predictive abilities including case studies.
About Amvrossios Bagtzoglou:
Associate Professor,Civil & Environmental Engineering
Hydrology and Water Resources, Hydrologic Numerical Modeling,
Geoenvironmental Engineering
Phone: 860-486-4017
E-mail: acb@engr.uconn.edu
Website:http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~ucremed
I am a Civil and Environmental Engineer that specializes in numerical modeling of environmental and hydrologic processes. My research deals with three main thematic areas:
1) Time inversion and reconstruction of past hydrologic conditions.Mathematical methods are developed to solve this illposed problem that has a variety of applications. Emphasis is placed on pollution source identification, paleo-climate inference, real-time atmospheric pollution tracking,
and polarimetric radar calibration;
2) Chaotic advection and mixing. Numerical
and physical modeling is conducted to study the effects of aperiodic external
stresses on the mixing properties and thus on the remediation potential of ground water aquifers;
3) Estuarine and river water quality management. Elements of chaos theory are applied to facilitate the design of estuarine modifications in order to manage and improve
About Guiling Wang:
Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 2000
Area of Expertise
Surface Hydrology, Land Surface Modeling,
Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions
Vegetation Dynamics and Terrestrial Carbon Cycles
Climate Teleconnectivity and its Application in Hydrological Forecast