Provost's Fund: Energy Research Projects

January 18, 2023

The 海角社区 Provost鈥檚 Fund for Innovation in Research has announced $1.1 million in faculty research grants to 33 projects, including several focusing in the area of energy research, in support of sustained strategic priorities for the university and for Louisiana.

Launched in 2022, the Provost鈥檚 Fund supports interdisciplinary research in five priority areas, also known as the 海角社区 Pentagon, which includes agriculture, biomedicine and biotechnology, coast and environment, defense and cybersecurity and energy.

Spanning Our Priorities

priorities pentagonWhile some of the newly funded projects fall within a single priority area, several span multiple priority areas. The strength of the Scholarship First Agenda lies not only in how 海角社区 can drive research and innovation in agriculture, biomedicine, coast, defense and energy, but combine these areas in interesting ways to solve pressing problems in Louisiana and around the globe. In total:

  • Five faculty identified their projects as agricultural;
  • 19 faculty identified their projects as biomedical;
  • 13 faculty identified their projects as coastal;
  • Eight faculty identified their projects as defense-related;
  • 10 faculty identified their projects as energy-related.

Below is a list of current Provost鈥檚 Fund faculty research awardees focusing in the area of energy research.

See more information about the fund and the full list of awardees.

 

  • Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Kunlun Ding (海角社区 College of Engineering) will develop intermetallic catalysts for tandem conversion of natural gas and carbon dioxide.
  • Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Xiangyu Meng (海角社区 College of Engineering) will optimize electric vehicle platooning (driving a group of vehicles together at the same velocity) by changing fleet formations (traditionally in fixed positions) to maximize battery health, save energy and reduce congestion and accidents.
  • Associate Professor of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Ying Wang (海角社区 College of Engineering) will develop greener energy storage technologies in the form of biodegradable hydrogel electrolytes for metal-free ammonium-ion batteries with high performance and reduced cost compared to lithium-ion batteries.