The Ohio State University granted over $500,000 to 11 interdisciplinary research teams through the President’s Research Excellence (PRE) program in 2024. The Accelerator awards advance innovative research across the university and motivate research teams to challenge limits in their disciplines.
Three Sustainability Institute (SI) affiliated faculty members were among the Accelerator grant lead PI awardees, including:
Building Interdisciplinary Opportunities (BIO)-astronautics
Karen Dannemiller, SI core faculty member and Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Environmental and Geodetic Engineering and Division of Enviornmental Health Sciences, is pioneering an interdisciplinary bioastronautics case study. Dannemiller is spearheading the case study using dust, a waste product in all human occupied spacecraft, as a nutrient source for plant production to support long-term space missions.
The research project’s co-PIs are John Horack, also an SI core faculty member and Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs and Jonathan Jacobs, SI affiliated faculty member and Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology.
Advancing Operational Wildland Fire Behavior Models
Mrinal Kumar, SI affiliated faculty member and Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is dedicating his team’s Accelerator award to transform wildland fire prediction models. This research effort aims to adapt wildland fire models based on region specificity, field-data collected during prescribed burns, and high-fidelity multiscale simulations of combustion and radiation processes.
The research project’s co-PIs are Gil Bohrer, SI affiliated faculty member and Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, Sandip Mazumder, SI affiliated faculty member and Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Roger Williams, SI affiliated faculty member and Associate Professor in the School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Turning Watermelon Rinds into a Functional Food
Yael Vodovotz, SI affiliated faculty member and Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, is leading a transdisciplinary research team focused on transforming watermelon rinds into a highly nutritious food source. By fermenting and processing watermelon rinds, this effort would have the dual benefit of introducing a new, healthy food for consumption, while diverting food waste from the landfill.
The research project’s co-PIs are Osvaldo Campanella, Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology and Thomas Knobloch, Associate Professor of Practice in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences.
SI congratulates these researchers for their Accelerator grant awards in pursuit of new sustainability innovations!
Story by Christine Andreeva, SI Student Communications Assistant