Five sustainability-related projects received funding in a new Ohio State effort to support team-driven research.
The Accelerator grants were awarded in June through the President’s Research Excellence (PRE) program, an initiative launched this year to provide seed support for cross- and interdisciplinary research projects that have the potential to attract external funding. Accelerator grants of up to $50,000 fund small teams formed to pursue curiosity-driven, novel, high-risk and high-reward research. The PRE program supports the university’s goals to help grow its research and innovation enterprise by attracting more externally sponsored research funding to address large, complex societal challenges.
Funding will support sustainability research related to food security, Li-ion batteries, energy, medicine and on-demand delivery services. The sustainability projects are all led by Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty.
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Food Security in Under-Resourced Arid Regions
Lead PI: Joachim Moortgat, College of Arts & Sciences, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty
Co-investigators: Leah Bevis, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Ian Howat, College of Arts & Sciences, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty; Han-Wei Shen, College of Engineering
Project description: Many under-resourced regions whose food security is vulnerable to climate change are underrepresented by data. We aim to develop new AI to automatically extract such data from petabytes of ultrahigh resolution satellite imagery, which will be a game changer in informing new food security strategies.
Next-Generation Liquid Electrolytes for Extreme Li-ion Batteries
PI: Yiying Wu, College of Arts & Sciences, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty
Co-investigators: Jung Hyun Kim and Lisa Hall, College of Engineering, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty
Project description: This proposal is to develop novel liquid electrolytes that can operate under extreme conditions of high voltage, wide operation temperature, and fast charging for marked improved performance and safety of Li-ion batteries in the field of transportation, consumer electronics, and space mission.
Selective conversion of methane to methanol using hemoglobin encapsulated in porous materials
PI: Nicholas Brunelli, College of Engineering, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty
Co-investigators: Andre Palmer, College of Engineering; Christine Wade, College of Arts & Sciences
Project description: We will use zeolitic imidazolate framework to encapsulate hemoglobin to use as a catalyst for the selective conversion of methane to methanol. Using advanced spectroscopy, we will investigate the oxidation state of the iron atom in the hemoglobin during each step of the catalytic cycle.
AI-Powered Green Synthesis Pathway Planning for Drug Manufacturing
PI: Xiaoxue Wang, College of Engineering, Sustainability Institute core faculty member
Co-investigators: Huan Sun, College of Engineering; Xia Ning, College of Medicine
Project description: We propose an AI platform that suggest synthesis pathways with green chemistry considerations for drugs. Our work will support the manufacturing of newly-designed drugs without known synthesis pathways, and optimize existing manufacturing processes to maximize profits and avoid safety risks.
Energy Efficient On-demand Delivery Services (EODS)
PI: Qadeer Ahmed, College of Engineering, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty
Co-investigators: Christopher Atkinson, College of Engineering; Desheng Liu, College of Arts & Sciences, Sustainability Institute affiliated faculty
Project description: We aim to address the inherent energy inefficiency of on-demand parcel and grocery delivery services (ODS), as practiced today. This approach will improve the energy efficiency of urban mobility by predicting delivery demand, improving freight and vehicle routing, reducing deadheading and enhancing.